HE  GOSPEL  OF 
GOOD  WILL 


WILLIAM  DEWITT  HYDE 


THE   GOSPEL   OF   GOOD   WILL 


THE  MACMILLAN  COMPANY 

NEW  YORK    •    BOSTON  •    CHICAGO  •   DALLAS 
ATLANTA  •    SAN   FRANCISCO 

MACMILLAN  &  CO.,  LIMITED 

LONDON  •    BOMBAY  •    CALCUTTA 
MELBOURNE 

THE  MACMILLAN  CO.  OF  CANADA,  LTD. 

TORONTO 


THE 
GOSPEL  OF  GOOD  WILL 

AS   REVEALED   IN   CONTEMPORARY 
SCRIPTURES 

BY 
WILLIAM    DEWITT   HYDE 

PRESIDENT  OF  BOWDOIN  COLLEGE 


"  The  democratic  mind  attempts  to  apply  to  every  moral  issue  its 
tests  of  justice-giving,  service,  and  social  solidarity." 

—  SHAILER  MATTHEWS. 


fforfc 

THE   MACMILLAN   COMPANY 
1916 

All  rights  reserved 


COPYRIGHT,  1916, 
By  THE  MACMILLAN  COMPANY. 


Set  up  and  electrotyped.    Published  March,  1916. 


Notfaoofi  IPrfSB 

J.  8.  Gushing  Co.  —  Berwick  &  Smith  Co. 
Norwood,  Mass.,  U.S.A. 


BR 


LIBRARY 

UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFOBJNI£ 
SANTA  BARBARA 


H1 


FRANK  H.   DECKER 

MINISTER   OF  CHURCH   HOUSE,   PROVIDKNCB,   R.I. 

IN  WHOSE  HEART  AND  ON  WHOSE  LIPS  THE  GOSPEL 

OF  GOOD  WILL  LIFTS  THOSE  WHO  NEED  IT 

MOST  INTO  A  HAPPY  FELLOWSHIP  IN 

CHRIST'S  EXPERIENCE  OF  GOD 


PREFACE 

THIS  book,  taking  for  granted  the  technical  devices 
of  preaching,  goes  straight  to  the  heart  of  the  Gospel  to 
be  preached  and  practiced :  —  the  Gospel  that  Christ 
expects  men  to  be  great  enough  to  make  the  good  of  all 
affected  by  their  action,  the  object  of  their  wills,  as  it 
is  of  the  will  of  God. 

The  Christian  is  not  a  "plaster  saint"  who  holds 
"safety  first"  to  be  the  supreme  spiritual  grace;  but 
the  man  who  earns  and  spends  his  money,  controls  his 
appetites  and  passions,  chooses  peace  or  war,  and  does 
whatever  his  hand  finds  to  do,  with  an  eye  single  to  the 
greatest  good  of  all  concerned. 

Sin  is  falling  short  of  this  high,  heroic  aim ;  and  the 
preacher's  business  is  to  make  men  ashamed  of  it,  as 
the  low,  mean  thing  it  is. 

The  instant  a  man  who  has  done  wrong  repents, 
God  and  all  Christlike  men  welcome  him  back  to  their 
favor  and  fellowship. 

To  the  Christian  every  secular  vocation  is  an  oppor- 
tunity to  express  Good  Will :  and  sacrifice  is  the  price 
he  gladly  pays  for  the  privilege. 

vii 


VU1  PREFACE 

The  wise  Christian  preacher  will  not  as  preacher 
become  the  mere  partisan  on  one  side  or  the  other  of 
disputed  questions  of  political,  social,  and  moral  reform : 
but  will  commend  such  Good  Will  and  condemn  such 
evil  will  as  there  is  on  both  sides. 

Christian  character  and  Christian  virtues  come  not 
by  direct  cultivation,  but  as  by-products  of  Good  Will 
expressed  in  daily  life.  The  Church,  a  superfluous 
superstition  when  considered  as  an  appendage  to  an 
untransformed  secular  life,  or  a  preparation  for  an  unde- 
fined happiness  hereafter,  is  a  precious  and  sacred  instru- 
ment for  transforming  men  and  institutions  into  sons 
and  servants  of  Good  Will. 

As  the  expert  interpreter  of  the  Gospel  of  Good  Will : 
as  the  leader  in  the  fight  against  all  meanness  and  cruelty : 
as  the  restorer  of  the  penitent :  as  the  infuser  of  spirit- 
ual meaning  into  secular  life :  as  the  champion  of  costly 
sacrifice:  as  the  challenger  of  social  injustice  and  the 
non-partisan  herald  of  social  reform :  as  the  officer  of 
a  church  that  derives  its  sanctity  and  unity  from  the 
efficiency  with  which  it  serves  all  forms  of  personal  and 
social  welfare,  —  the  Christian  minister  has  a  mission 
beneficent  beyond  all  others. 

These  lessons  are  drawn  from  and  illustrated  by  texts 
and  extracts  from  twentieth-century  literature:  not 


PREFACE  IX 

devotional,  theological,  evangelistic,  or  missionary  books, 
but  secular  literature  that  is  saturated  with  the  essen- 
tial Christian  Spirit  of  Good  Will. 

For  kind  permission  to  quote  these  texts  and  lessons 
from  "  Contemporary  Scriptures  "  I  make  grateful  ac- 
knowledgments to  the  following  authors  and  publishers : 

Mr.  Jerome  K.  Jerome,  for  "  The  Passing  of  the  Third 
Floor  Back  "  (page  i) ;  Mr.  Charles  Rann  Kennedy  and 
Harper  and  Brothers,  for  "  The  Servant  in  the  House  " 
(page  162) ;  D.  Appleton  and  Company,  for  Thomas 
Mott  Osborne's  "  Within  Prison  Walls  "  (page  80) ;  The 
Houghton  Mifflin  Company,  for  John  Graham  Brooks' 
"  An  American  Citizen  "  (page  108) ;  J.  B.  Lippincott 
Company,  for  Charles  Sarolea's  "  How  Belgium  Saved 
Europe  "  (page  135) ;  Dodd,  Mead  and  Company,  for 
John  Hopkins  Dennison's  "  Beside  the  Bowery  "  (page 
20) ;  and  The  Macmillan  Company,  for  John  Mase- 
field's  "  The  Everlasting  Mercy  "  and  "  The  Widow  in 
the  Bye  Street "  (page  45) ;  Jacob  Riis'  "  The  Making 
of  an  American,"  and  "The  Battle  With  the  Slum" 
(page  191)  ;  and  Winston  Churchill's  "  The  Inside  of 
the  Cup"  (page  217). 

These  texts  and  extracts  are  introduced  to  show  that 
this  Gospel  of  Good  Will  is  a  Gospel  which  is  being 
preached  effectively  in  the  poems  and  plays,  the  biog- 


X  PREFACE 

raphies  and  histories,  the  speeches  and  novels  of  the 
day,  and  should  be  preached  in  the  pulpit. 

In  Chapters  II  and  III,  I  have  introduced  a  few  pas- 
sages from  my  book  on  "  Sin  and  its  Forgiveness." 
For  some  things  put  in,  and  for  more  left  out,  I  am  in- 
debted to  the  criticism  of  Dr.  Charles  T.  Burnett  and 
Dr.  Chauncey  W.  Goodrich. 

Why  the  Gospel  of  Good  Will?  Why  not  the  Gospel 
of  God ;  the  Gospel  of  Christ ;  or  the  Gospel  of  the 
Spirit  ? 

Because  for  many  of  us  God  is  a  far-off,  forbidding 
being;  Christ  has  become  sentimental  and  external; 
the  Spirit  has  come  to  stand  for  something  vague  and 
mystical. 

Readers  of  whom  this  is  not  true ;  readers  to  whom 
God  is  a  Father  whose  trusted,  wise  benevolence  makes 
the  doing  of  hard  duty  a  delight ;  Christ  an  ever  present 
companion  whose  friendship  makes  unselfish  living  easy ; 
the  Spirit  an  inward  guide  whose  perpetual  suggestions 
make  kindliness  of  attitude  and  act  a  second  nature; 
are  advised  to  substitute  for  Good  Will,  wherever  it 
occurs,  the  one  of  these  more  obviously  personal  terms 
which  means  most  to  them. 

On  the  other  hand,  to  those  who  find  these  terms  beset 
with  misconceptions,  and  are  willing  to  risk  apparent 


PREFACE  XI 

temporary  abandonment  of  them,  I  think  I  can  promise 
that  at  the  end  of  our  little  journey  they  will  come  back 
to  find  these  personal  terms  defined  and  deepened,  ex- 
panded and  enriched. 

For  Good  Will  is  not  an  impersonal  abstraction  float- 
ing in  empty  air.  It  is  the  fundamental  attribute  of 
God;  the  essential  nature  of  Christ;  the  characteristic 
quality  of  the  Spirit :  and  whoever  lives  in  Good  Will 
thereby  becomes  a  son  or  daughter  of  God,  a  brother  or 
sister  of  Christ,  a  disciple  and  friend  of  the  Spirit. 

WILLIAM  DEWTTT  HYDE. 

BOWDOIN  COLLEGE,  BRUNSWICK,  MAINE, 
January  i,  1916. 


INTRODUCTION 

THERE  are  two  approaches  to  the  Christian  life.  One 
is  the  critical  investigation  of  the  traditions  in  which 
that  life  is  historically  enshrined.  The  results  of  this 
investigation  are  at  first  startlingly  negative,  and  seem 
to  take  away  the  foundations  of  Christianity.  Yet 
followed  through  they  reveal  underneath  the  founda- 
tion which  they  remove  an  even  firmer  foundation  in 
the  eternal  ideal  of  Good  Will  which  the  prophets  par- 
tially proclaimed,  law  negatively  declared,  Christ  per- 
fectly embodied,  and  the  early  Christians  enthusiasti- 
cally reproduced.  One  finds  this  admirably  done  in 
such  a  book  as  William  F.  Bade's  "The  Old  Testament 
in  the  Light  of  To-day." 

The  other  method  is  to  ask,  not  through  the  critical 
examination  of  ancient  tradition  and  ecclesiastical  au- 
thority, but  directly  through  the  life  and  literature  of 
the  present  day  what  are  the  supreme  values  which  men 
are  expressing  and  admiring  in  the  plays  and  poems, 
the  biographies  and  histories,  the  speeches  and  novels 
of  this  twentieth  century.  This  method  has  all  the 
pleasure  and  peril  of  plowing  virgin  soil  on  an  unexplored 
frontier. 


XIV  INTRODUCTION 

It  neither  denies  nor  affirms  the  results  as  such  of 
Biblical  and  historical  criticism.  In  so  far  as  tradition 
proves  false  and  authority  unfounded,  so  long  as  we  are 
true  to  our  present  highest  ideal  of  Good  Will,  we  can 
get  along  just  as  well  without  as  with  the  historical 
tradition.  And  in  so  far  as  the  verified  tradition  and 
our  present  insight  coincide,  each  has  reason  to  be  grate- 
ful for  the  confirmation  of  the  other. 

Both  to  those  whom  criticism  has  robbed  of  cherished 
features  of  the  traditional  Gospel  and  to  those  to 
whom  criticism  has  given  back  the  essentials  of  their 
faith,  the  new  method  brings  a  positive  and  practicable 
Gospel.  Wisdom  is  justified  of  all  her  children. 

We  are  passing  through  a  revolution  in  religious 
thought.  The  old  terms  remain :  but  with  new  mean- 
ings and  new  emphasis.  The  old  views  had  at  least 
the  merit  of  clearness.  The  preacher  knew  precisely 
what  to  preach :  and  the  layman  knew  how  to  put  the 
preaching  into  practice.  The  new  views  have  not  yet 
become  equally  precise.  Not  every  preacher  who  holds 
them  knows  how  to  make  them  clear  to  his  congrega- 
tion :  and  not  every  one  in  the  congregation  who  hears 
them  preached  is  quite  clear  about  the  manner  of  life 
for  which  they  call. 

As  this  book  aims  to  make  the  new  views  as  clearly 


INTRODUCTION  XV 

preachable  and  as  precisely  practicable  as  the  old,  the 
natural  introduction  to  them  is  a  contrast,  as  sharp  and 
as  extreme  as  possible,  between  the  old  and  the  new  views. 

God  used  to  be  regarded  as  somewhat  arbitrary :  not 
deigning  to  justify  his  ways  by  the  perfect  standard 
of  what  human  goodness  at  its  best  prompts  us  to  say 
and  do  in  our  relations  with  our  fellows :  but  laying  down 
laws  and  penalties,  drawing  up  plans  and  schemes, 
which  seemed  to  have  as  their  primary  aim  divine  satis- 
faction rather  than  human  welfare. 

To-day  our  deeper  grasp  of  the  Spirit  of  Jesus,  and  our 
fuller  appreciation  of  its  great  practical  corollary, 
democracy,  has  taught  us  to  measure  God  by  at  least 
as  high  a  standard  as  that  which  we  apply  to  ourselves. 
This  makes  God  a  Being  altogether  light  in  whom  there 
is  no  darkness  at  all :  not  arbitrary  will  but  Good  Will 
becomes  the  essence  of  his  nature :  and  when  we  seek 
to  know  His  Will  we  ask  not  merely  what  was  revealed  to 
and  believed  by  the  harder  hearts  of  twenty  or  twenty-five 
centuries  ago,  but  what  a  Will  which  seeks  the  compre- 
hensive best  for  each  and  all  to-day  expects  us  to  be  and 
do,  in  the  concrete  and  complex  situations  in  which  we 
modern  men  are  placed  —  situations  infinitely  more 
delicate  and  difficult  than  anything  of  which  the  most 
inspired  of  the  ancients  every  dreamed. 


ivi  INTRODUCTION 

Eight  lectures  cannot  cover  the  whole  of  the  preacher's 
message.  I  have  selected  and  arranged  in  logical  order 
the  eight  commissions  which  seem  to  me  most  vital. 

The  preacher's  first  task  is  to  develop  in  his  people 
the  habit  of  asking  in  every  relationship  of  life,  not  what 
is  profitable,  not  what  is  pleasurable,  not  what  is  respect- 
able, not  what  is  lawful :  but  what  does  the  Will  that 
wills  the  best  for  all :  —  what  does  Good  Will  in  this 
precise  situation  require.  To  train  people  to  ask  that 
question  every  day  and  hour  of  their  lives :  and  once  or 
twice  a  week  to  give  them  guidance  and  inspiration 
toward  some  of  the  answers  to  it,  is  the  preacher's  most 
comprehensive  commission.  He  is  not  merely  the 
repeater  and  commentator  of  a  message  once  for  all 
delivered  to  the  saints:  but  the  prophet  of  a  message 
that  is  forever  as  new  and  original  as  the  changing 
situations  and  unfolding  capacities  of  men. 

The  thing  the  preacher  and  layman  alike  have  to  fight, 
then,  is  not  sin  in  the  old,  abstract  sense  of  defiance  of 
an  arbitrary  God,  disobedience  of  his  sovereign  com- 
mands, and  disregard  of  the  elaborate  terms  upon 
which  he  has  offered  us  abstract  salvation:  but  the 
meanness  that  seeks  anything  less  than  that  best  for 
all  which  Good  Will  is  ever  seeking;  the  selfishness 
which  falls  so  far  short  of  Good  Will  for  all  that  it  will 


INTRODUCTION  XV11 

take  gain  and  pleasure  for  self,  or  self  and  friends,  at 
cost  of  avoidable  loss  and  pain  for  others  and  for  all. 
To  show  mean  and  selfish  persons  how  mean  and  selfish 
they  are,  and  make  them  heartily  ashamed  of  their 
greed  and  lust,  malice  and  hatefulness,  laziness  and 
self-indulgence,  censoriousness  and  hardheartedness,  is 
the  preacher's  second  commission. 

Mean  and  contemptible  as  selfishness  is,  however, 
the  selfish  man  is  mean  and  contemptible  no  longer  than 
he  clings  to  his  selfishness.  The  instant  he  is  ashamed 
of  it,  and  sorry  for  the  injury  it  is  to  others ;  wishing 
that  instead  of  the  mean  thing  he  said,  or  did,  he  had 
risen  to  the  noble  height  of  Good  Will  for  all  —  that 
instant,  not  by  special  arrangement,  but  in  the  nature  of 
the  case,  because  we  would  do  it  ourselves,  and  God  is 
at  least  as  good  as  we  are  at  our  best,  the  man  who  has 
been  mean  and  selfish  is  forgiven,  and  welcomed  to  the 
favor  of  God  and  the  fellowship  of  all  who  in  the  Christ- 
like  spirit  share  and  serve  Good  Will.  To  assure  the 
penitent  of  this  free  and  full  forgiveness  of  God,  and 
to  secure  for  him  the  practical,  social  expression  of  that 
forgiveness  by  all  Christian  men  and  women,  is  the 
preacher's  third  commission. 

Good  Will  is  not  chiefly  manifested  for  us  once  for  all 
in  miracle:  or  repeated  for  us  in  sacramental  magic. 


XVU1  INTRODUCTION 

It  is  manifested  in  the  life  and  character  of  Jesus  Christ 
far  more  fully  than  in  the  alleged  manner  of  his  birth 
or  the  method  of  his  resurrection :  in  the  conduct  and 
spirit  of  the  daily  lives  of  Christian  men  and  women, 
far  more  than  in  ecclesiastical  rites  and  ceremonies: 
and  is  to  be  manifested  most  acceptably  and  trium- 
phantly in  the  transformation  of  all  secular  vocations  into 
expressions  of  friendliness  and  service  to  all  whom  they 
directly  and  remotely  affect.  To  show,  not  in  technical 
detail,  which  for  the  most  part  is  beyond  his  powers, 
but  in  aim  and  principle  how  to  make  each  Christian 
man's  vocation  an  expression  of  Good  Will  for  him,  in 
him,  and  through  him  for  the  benefit  and  blessing  of 
the  world,  is  the  preacher's  fourth  commission. 

Good  Will  involves  not  merely  once  for  all  in  Jesus 
Christ,  but  perpetually  and  universally  in  every  disciple 
who  shares  it,  the  sacrifice  of  whatever  individual  prefer- 
ence, pleasure  or  profit  is  inconsistent  with  it.  Up  to 
the  limit  of  his  strength  and  influence,  so  far  as  is  con- 
sistent with  maximum  efficiency  in  his  specific  station 
and  function,  every  Christian  man  must  bear  his  share 
of  the  suffering  incidental  to  a  finite  world  of  natural 
law  and  human  freedom :  and  consequent  on  the  per- 
versity of  individuals  and  the  corruption  and  imperfec- 
tion of  civic  and  social  institutions.  Sacrifice  is  the  cost 


INTRODUCTION  XIX 

of  service :  each  form  of  service  has  its  specific  price  in 
sacrifice :  and  to  train  his  people  to  pay  the  price  and 
make  the  sacrifice  cheerfully  and  bravely,  yet  not 
excessively  or  unreasonably,  is  the  preacher's  fifth 
commission. 

A  man  who  makes  his  life  expressive  of  Good  Will 
thereby  becomes  not  merely  saved  and  assured  of  an 
abundant  entrance  into  a  future  heaven :  but  becomes 
transformed  by  the  renewing  of  his  mind  so  as  to  show 
forth  here  and  now  that  perfect  and  acceptable  Will 
in  specific  traits  of  character  and  qualities  of  conduct. 
To  show  what  these  are,  and  how  they  come,  not  so 
much  through  explicit  cultivation  but  as  by-products 
of  a  mind  and  heart  devoted  day  by  day,  year  after 
year,  to  Good  Will,  is  the  Christian  preacher's  sixth 
commission. 

The  State,  the  economic  order,  the  family  and  the 
international  world  order  are  spheres,  not  of  supernatural 
conflict  of  God  and  the  Devil,  but  spheres  which  are 
the  resultants  of  much  natural  selfishness  and  an  ever 
increasing  volume  of  Christian  Good  Will.  To  live 
in  them,  patient  with  their  imperfections  so  far  as  they 
are  for  the  present  inevitable ;  yet  ever  making  his  own 
contribution  to  them  pure,  and  just  and  generous  and 
beneficent:  dwelling  at  the  same  time  sorrowfully 


XX  INTRODUCTION 

in  the  unavoidable  injustices  and  oppressions,  joyfully 
in  the  coming  purity  and  justice  and  generosity  and 
love  of  the  world  that  is  to  be,  and  which  all  Christian 
men  are  helping  to  bring  in,  is  his  seventh  commission. 

The  Bible,  the  Sabbath,  the  Sacraments,  the  Church, 
Missions  and  the  Ministry  are  not  as  formerly  con- 
sidered, supernatural  institutions  of  mystical  and  magi- 
cal efficacy  to  work  moral  miracles  independently  of 
the  transformation  and  cooperation  of  character:  but 
they  are  useful  and  essential  and  therefore  holy  and 
sacred  means  for  the  cultivation,  and  propagation  of 
Good  Will.  To  make  men  appreciate  and  reverence 
them,  not  for  their  traditional  and  fictitious,  but  for 
their  present-day  and  instrumental  value,  is  the  eighth 
of  the  preacher's  commissions. 

A  man  who  signs  himself  "A  Student  In  Arms," 
writing  from  the  trenches  in  Flanders  to  the  Spectator 
of  December  18,  1915,  describes  so  accurately  the  prob- 
lem of  the  preacher,  and  the  solution  of  it  set  forth  in 
this  book,  that  it  may  well  serve  as  the  conclusion  of  our 
introduction. 

"The  soldier,  and  in  this  case  the  soldier  means 
the  working  man,  does  not  in  the  least  connect  the  things 
he  really  believes  in  with  Christianity.  He  thinks  that 
Christianity  consists  in  believing  the  Bible  and  setting 


INTRODUCTION  XXI 

up  to  be  better  than  your  neighbors.  By  believing  the 
Bible  he  means  believing  that  Jonah  was  swallowed  by 
the  whale.  By  setting  up  to  be  better  than  your  neigh- 
bors he  means  not  drinking,  not  swearing,  and  preferably 
not  smoking,  being  close-fisted  with  your  money,  avoid- 
ing the  companionship  of  doubtful  characters,  and  refusing 
to  acknowledge  that  such  have  any  claim  upon  you. 

"This  is  surely  nothing  short  of  tragedy.  Here  were 
men  who  believed  absolutely  in  the  Christian  virtues 
of  unselfishness,  generosity,  charity  and  humility,  with- 
out ever  connecting  them  in  their  minds  with  Christ; 
and  at  the  same  time  what  they  did  associate  with 
Christianity  was  just  on  a  par  with  the  formalism  and 
smug  self-righteousness  which  Christ  spent  His  whole 
life  in  trying  to  destroy. 

"The  chaplains  as  a  rule  failed  to  realize  this.  They 
remonstrated  with  their  hearers  for  not  saying  their 
prayers,  and  not  coming  to  Communion,  and  not  being 
afraid  to  die  without  making  their  peace  with  God. 
They  did  not  grasp  that  the  men  really  had  deep-seated 
beliefs  in  goodness,  and  that  the  only  reason  why  they 
did  not  pray  and  go  to  Communion  was  that  they  never 
connected  the  goodness  in  which  they  believed  with  the 
God  in  Whom  the  chaplains  said  they  ought  to  believe. 
If  they  had  connected  Christianity  with  unselfishness 


XX11  INTRODUCTION 

and  the  rest,  they  would  have  been  prepared  to  look  to 
Christ  as  their  Master  and  their  Savior.  I  am  certain 
that  if  the  chaplain  wants  to  be  understood  and  to  win 
their  sympathy  he  must  begin  by  showing  them  that 
Christianity  is  the  explanation  and  the  justification  and 
the  triumph  of  all  that  they  now  do  really  believe  in. 
He  must  start  by  making  their  religion  articulate  in  a 
way  which  they  will  recognize.  He  must  make  them 
see  that  his  creeds  and  prayers  and  worship  are  the  sym- 
bols of  all  that  they  admire  most,  and  most  want  to  be." 


CONTENTS 


I.    THE  GOSPEL  OF  GOOD  WILL:   CHRIST'S  EXPECTA- 
TION OF  MEN i 

II.    FALLING  SHORT  OF  GOOD  WILL:  THE  MEANNESS 

OF  SIN 46 

III.  RESTORATION  TO  GOOD  WILL:    REPENTANCE  AND 

FORGIVENESS 80 

IV.  GOOD  WILL  IN  SECULAR  VOCATIONS:   SERVICE       .  108 
V.    THE  COST  OF  GOOD  WILL:   SACRIFICE    .        .        .  135 

VI.    BY-PRODUCTS   OF   GOOD   WILL:     THE   CHRISTIAN 

VIRTUES 162 

VII.    GOOD  WILL  IN  SOCIETY:  REFORM  .        .        .        .191 

VIII.    FELLOWSHIP  IN  GOOD  WILL:  THE  CHURCH    .        .  217 


xxiii 


THE  GOSPEL  OF  GOOD  WILL 


THE  GOSPEL  OF    GOOD    WILL:    CHRIST'S  EXPECTA- 
TION OF  MEN 

"You  have  always  taken  it  for  granted,  sir,  in  all  our  conver- 
sations, that  I  was  a  fine  fellow,  in  sympathy  with  fine  ideals. 
But  that  is  not  what  surprises  me :  it  is  to  find  —  that  you  are 
right."  JEROME  K.  JEROME,  The  Passing  of  the  Third  Floor  Back, 
p.  190. 

OUR  lesson  for  to-day  is  from  "The  Passing  of  the 
Third  Floor  Back";  the  text  is  the  remark  of  a  Jew 
converted  from  cunning  trickery  to  frank  honesty.  This 
play  is  the  drama  of  conversion  by  expectation ;  re- 
generation by  appreciation.  It  portrays  the  influence  of 
THE  STRANGER,  who  is  Christ,  on  as  unpromising  a  lot 
of  persons  as  ever  gathered  together  in  a  boarding  house. 
The  Prologue  shows  us  a  satyr,  a  coward,  a  bully,  a 
shrew,  a  hussy,  a  rogue,  a  cad,  a  cat,  a  snob,  a  slut, 
a  cheat,  and  a  passer-by,  THE  STRANGER,  —  Christ. 

B  I 


2  THE    GOSPEL   OF   GOOD   WILL 

In  the  Epilogue  we  meet  these  same  individuals  again, 
yet  with  all  their  objectionable  characteristics  gone: 
we  meet  them  as  a  generous  old  bachelor;  two  pure 
lovers;  a  devoted  husband  and  wife;  an  honorable 
Jew ;  an  entertaining  party ;  a  self-respecting  maiden 
lady ;  a  generous  rich  aunt ;  an  important  person ;  the 
refined  lady  of  the  house,  and  THE  STRANGER  who  now 
is  the  friend  of  them  all. 

How  has  THE  STRANGER-FRIEND,  the  Christ,  wrought 
this  wonderful  transformation?  By  seeing  and  re- 
vealing to  each  one  of  them  his  or  her  ideal.  In  the 
grasping  lodging-house  keeper  he  sees  and  reveals  the 
generous  lady  she  really  is ;  unwilling  to  charge  him  as 
much  as  he  is  able  and  willing  to  pay.  In  a  powdered, 
painted,  giggling,  gushing,  silly  simpleton  he  sees  and 
reveals  a  "clever,  witty,  beautiful,  graceful,  comely 
woman,  perhaps  a  little  pale  —  there  are  white  roses 
and  red  —  with  delicate  features  on  which  the  sculptor 
Thought  has  chiselled  his  fine  lines,  giving  to  them  char- 
acter, distinction;  her  still-bright  eyes  unspoilt;  with 
her  fit  crown  of  soft  brown  hair  that  time  has  touched 
with  no  unkindly  hand." 

To  see  how  the  change  is  wrought,  however,  we 
must  give  not  mere  extracts,  but  in  two  or  three  cases 
the  whole  conversation. 


CHRIST'S  EXPECTATION  OF  MEN  3 

First,  THE  STRANGER  has  a  friendly  talk  with  Harry 
Larkcom,  a  low,  ill-mannered,  mercenary  fellow  who 
has  just  been  trying  to  make  an  assignation  with  the 
servant  girl  in  return  for  a  gift  of  imitation  emeralds. 

THE  STRANGER 
How  well  you  play ! 

LARKCOM 

(He  swings  round  on  his  stool.)  Hullo !  —  you  there, 
old  cockerlor  —  (He  encounters  THE  STRANGER'S  eyes. 
Somehow  they  put  him  out  of  countenance.)  Think  so? 

THE  STRANGER 
You  have  the  touch  of  one  who  loves  music. 

LARKCOM 

Here.  (He  rises,  grins  up  into  THE  STRANGER'S  face.) 
What's  the  little  game?  Want  to  borrow  money? 

THE  STRANGER 
You  see,  it  would  be  of  no  use.    You  see  through  me 

at  once. 

LARKCOM 

(THE  STRANGER  is  smiling.  He  turns  away,  ashamed 
of  himself.)  Only  my  bit  of  fun.  (By  way  of  explana- 
tion). My  weak  spot  —  anybody  telling  me  I  know 
anything  about  music.  Here,  of  course  —  (With 


4  THE   GOSPEL   OF    GOOD   WILL 

disgust.)    Ah!    All  they  understand  here  is  "Tumpty, 
tumpty,  turn." 

THE  STRANGER 

And  so  you  give  them  —  what  they  understand. 

LARKCOM 

Oh  well!  somebody's  got  to  do  something  to  liven 
things  up  a  bit. 

THE  STRANGER 

Ah  !  yes.     (He  puts  a  hand  on  the  lad's  shoulder.)     Some 
kind,  good-natured  body. 

LARKCOM 
Oh  well !  it  comes  easy  —  and  I  like  doing  it. 

THE  STRANGER 

Yes. 

LARKCOM 

(There  is  something  about  THE  STRANGER  that  invites 
confidence)    My  idea  was  to  have  been  an  entertainer. 

THE  STRANGER 

It  was  a  good  idea.    You  would  have  succeeded,  I 
am  sure. 

LARKCOM 

You  see,  I've  got  a  voice. 


CHRIST'S  EXPECTATION  OF  MEN  5 

THE  STRANGER 

And  you  have  humour  and  a  sense  of  fun,  one  reads 
it  in  your  eyes. 

LARKCOM 

(Suspicious  for  an  instant  —  till  he  looks  into  THE 
STRANGER'S  eyes.}  That's  right.  Why,  sometimes  — 
when  I  like  to  take  the  trouble  —  I'll  have  'em  all  round 
me  here  laughing.  Not  an  easy  crowd  to  start,  mind 
you. 

THE  STRANGER 

It  is  your  vocation.  It  would  be  wrong  of  you  to 
waste  your  gifts. 

LARKCOM 

Question  is,  would  it  pay? 

THE  STRANGER 

I  think  it  would.  And  then,  that  is  not  the  only 
question,  is  it?  You  would  be  giving  pleasure  to  so 
many. 

LARKCOM 

"Giving."  Here,  don't  you  run  away  with  the  no- 
tion that  Harry  Larkcom  is  a  philanthropist.  What's  it 
going  to  put  into  little  Harry's  money-box?  (He  slaps 
his  pocket.)  That's  the  question  little  Harry  always 
asks  himself. 


6  THE  GOSPEL  OF  GOOD  WILL 

THE  STRANGER 
Always?    Are  you  sure? 

LARKCOM 

Aml- 

THE  STRANGER 

You  play  them  "Tumpty,  tumpty,  turn."    Why? 

LARKCOM 
Why !    Because  — 

THE  STRANGER 

Does  it  give  you  any  pleasure  —  you,  a  musician! 
Does  it  add  anything  to  the  "money-box"?  (The  lad 
stares.)  No.  You  do  it  because  you  are  just  a  good 
fellow.  You  will  have  them  all  around  you,  laughing. 
Wherever  you  are,  life  shall  be  a  little  brighter;  dull, 
tired  faces  shall  be  made  to  smile.  You  give  them  — 
so  much  more  than  money.  You  give  them  —  yourself. 
Don't  you  call  that  being  a  philanthropist? 

LARKCOM 
Of  course,  you  can  put  it  that  way. 

THE  STRANGER 
What  other  way? 


CHRIST'S  EXPECTATION  OF  MEN  7 

LARKCOM 

I  do  like  seeing  people  jolly  round  about  me ;  hearing 
them  whisper  to  one  another  that  Harry  Larkcom's  the 
life  and  —  Gar  on !  Who  are  you  getting  at  ?  —  you 
and  your  philanthropists !  I  just  like  their  admiration 
and  applause.  That's  all  I  do  it  for. 

THE  STRANGER 
Their   gratitude,    their   appreciation.    Are   you   not 

entitled  to  it? 

LARKCOM 

You  are  determined  — 

THE  STRANGER 

The  thanks  of  those  you  serve :  that  is  the  true  "pay" 
of  the  artist. 

LARKCOM 
Here.    Am  I  an  artist  now? 

THE  STRANGER 

And  the  artist  is  always  a  philanthropist,  serving  his 
fellow-men,  not  only  for  the  sake  of  the  money-box. 

LARKCOM 

I  wonder.  My  old  mother  always  would  put  it  that 
way.  "Harry's  never  so  happy,"  she  would  say,  "as 
when  he's  making  other  people  happy." 


8  THE  GOSPEL  OF  GOOD  WILL 

THE  STRANGER 
Ah !    She  knew  you.    She  would  have  been  so  proud 

of  you. 

LARKCOM 

Well,  it  would  be  better  than  the  sort  of  jobs  I'm 

doing  now. 

THE  STRANGER 

You  will  forgive  me.  I  have  seen  it  so  often.  You 
artists  are  never  content  doing  any  other  work  than 
your  own.  All  the  rest  is  waste  of  time. 

LARKCOM 

Would  you  mind  one  day  my  trying  over  one  or  two 
little  things  of  my  own  on  you  ? 

THE  STRANGER 
I  should  be  delighted. 

LARKCOM 
Honour  bright? 

THE  STRANGER 

Honour  bright !  It  will  be  pleasant  —  looking  back 
—  to  think  that  I  perhaps  was  of  help  to  you  in  the 

beginning. 

LARKCOM 

Don't  say  anything  about  it  to  any  of  the  others. 
(THE  STRANGER  signifies  understanding.)  "  Harry  Lark- 
corn —  artist!" 


CHRIST'S  EXPECTATION  OF  MEN  •*$£ 

THE  STRANGER 
(Smiling.}    And  philanthropist. 

LARKCOM 

And  philanthropist.  (Laughs.}  Good  night,  in  case 
I  don't  see  you  again  —  (holds  out  his  hand}  —  partner. 

THE  STRANGER 

Good  night,  partner. 

As  a  result  of  this  conversation  Harry  Larkcom  be- 
comes a  professional  entertainer  with  "Fun  without 
Vulgarity"  for  his  motto. 

Again  THE  STRANGER  has  a  talk  with  a  rich,  broken- 
down,  smutty,  shady  old  book-maker,  who  is  trying  to 
get  a  beautiful  girl  who  loathes  his  very  touch  to  marry 
him  as  a  means  of  supporting  her  indigent  and  quarrel- 
some parents.  THE  STRANGER  had  met  the  girl's 
eyes  as  she  was  starting  out  for  a  walk  with  the  old 
gambler;  and  as  a  result  of  THE  STRANGER'S  look  she 
had  decided  not  to  go  with  him.  The  conversation 
between  Wright,  the  old  gambler,  and  THE  STRANGER, 
starts  with  the  former's  remonstrance  against  this  silent 
interference. 

WRIGHT 

I  want  to  ask  you  a  question.  (He  looks  around, 
draws  THE  STRANGER  further  aside.}  "Heat  of  the 


10  THE  GOSPEL  OF  GOOD  WILL 

room"  be  damned.  It  was  the  moment  she  caught 
sight  of  you  that  she  changed  —  suddenly  discovered 
that  she  wasn't  feeling  well —  (with  a  sneering  laugh}. 
What's  the  understanding  between  you  two? 

THE  STRANGER 
You  think  it  was  I  who  influenced  her? 

WRIGHT 

I  don't  think  anything  about  it.  I  was  watching. 
Her  eyes  were  fixed  on  yours  all  the  time. 

THE  STRANGER 
May  it  not  have  been  merely  her  Better  Self  pleading 

to  her? 

WRIGHT 

Her  Better  Self !  What  better  can  she  do  for  herself 
than  marry  me?  I'm  rich.  Ain't  I  going  to  be  kind 
to  her  ?  Ain't  I  going  to  settle  money  on  her  —  money 
on  herself,  to  spend  as  she  likes?  (With  increasing 
vehemence.)  Ain't  I  good  enough  for  her? 

THE  STRANGER 
And  she  ?    Would  she  have  been  good  enough  for  you  ? 

WRIGHT 
(Puzzled.)    She !    Good  enough  for  me ! 


CHRIST'S  EXPECTATION  OF  MEN  n 

THE  STRANGER 

Taking  all  your  gifts  —  your  love.  Giving  you  noth- 
ing in  return  but  the  cold  embraces  of  a  shameless 
woman. 

(A  silence.) 

WRIGHT 

You  don't  understand.    The  world  ain't  a  story-book 

—  all  Jacks  and  Jills  and  love  in  a  cottage.    The  girl's 
got  to  live. 

THE  STRANGER 

Ay !  To  live !  It  is  a  fine  thing  to  live !  (He  turns 
again  smiling  to  little  Old  Joey.)  You  shall  give  her  Life ! 

WRIGHT 
(Staring.)     Give  her  Life  ? 

THE  STRANGER 

The  lad  she  loves.  (Old  Joey  darts  a  glance  at  Chris- 
topher, where  he  sits  all  unconscious.)  She  shall  cleave 
to  him,  cherish  him.  She  shall  be  the  mother  of  children 

—  children  who  shall  crown  her  brows  with  honour! 
Love !    Labour !    That  is  Life  to  a  woman.    You  shall 
give  her  Life ! 

(Again  a  silence.) 

WRIGHT 

(Peevishly.)  All  jolly  fine.  What  about  me?  Where 
do  I  come  in? 


12  THE  GOSPEL  OF  GOOD  WILL 

THE  STRANGER 
Man,  you  love  her  ? 

WRIGHT 
Yes,  I  know  I  do. 

THE  STRANGER 

Then  it  is  all  quite  simple.  There  is  nothing  else  to 
think  of  but  what  is  best  —  for  her. 

WRIGHT 
Yes,  there  is.    There's  me.    Ain't  I  got  any  rights? 

THE  STRANGER 
Ah,  yes.    The  right  to  serve. 

WRIGHT 

Here,  you're  making  a  mistake.  You're  talking  to 
me  as  if  I  were  some  high  and  mighty  Knight  Errant 
sort  of  a  chap.  It's  silly  of  you.  I  ain't  even  a  gentle- 
man. I'm  only  a  common  little  old  man.  Why,  I  was 
a  book-maker  —  that's  all  I  was.  You  know,  a  betting 
man  —  a  bit  shady  at  that.  Daresay  it's  all  right 
what  you  say.  Only  (he  taps  his  breast;  his  voice  has 
risen  to  a  plaintive  whine;  Self-pity  has  given  to  it  pathos] 
—  I  ain't  got  it  in  me. 

THE  STRANGER 
Are  you  sure  it  is  I  who  am  making  the  mistake? 


CHRIST'S  EXPECTATION  OF  MEN  13 

WRIGHT 

(He  makes  a  gesture  of  the  hands,  and,  shaking  his  head, 
creeps  to  the  easy-chair.  Sits  crouching  with  his  hands 
stretched  out  to  the  fire.) 

THE  STRANGER 
You  are  so  sure,  (smiling)  "Sir  Joseph!" 

WRIGHT 

(He  turns.)  How  did  you  know  that  used  to  be  my 
nickname? 

THE  STRANGER 

You  were  a  public  character.  Wherever  you  went, 
men  spoke  of  you  —  of  your  fine  lordly  ways,  of  your 
wondrous  kindness.  Women  also. 

WRIGHT 

Flinging  your  money  about  a  bit  when  you've  got 
plenty  of  it,  that  ain't  the  same  as  giving  up  the  woman 
you  love. 

THE  STRANGER 

Forgetting  Self  —  forgetting  all  things  but  the  loving 
of  her,  and  the  serving  of  her !  Ah  yes,  he  would  be  a 
great  gentleman  who  could  do  that.  You  —  you  do  not 
feel  yourself  quite  equal  to  it? 


14  THE  GOSPEL  OF  GOOD  WILL 

WRIGHT 

(He  turns  a  poor,  troubled  face  towards  THE  STRANGER.) 
Why  mightn't  she  come  to  love  me  —  in  time?  I 
would  be  good  to  her  —  and  kind  —  and  —  ( The  quiet 
eyes  are  fixed  on  him.  The  foolish  words  die  away.) 

THE  STRANGER 

I  think  you  could  win  her  love  more  readily.  So 
that  she  would  think  of  you  till  the  end  always  with 
deep  wonder  —  teach  your  name  to  her  children  that 
they,  too,  might  learn  to  love  and  honour  it. 

As  the  result  of  this  conversation  Wright  gives  up 
the  girl,  and  helps  on  her  marriage  with  his  young  rival. 

The  third  and  last  of  these  transforming  interviews 
that  I  will  cite  is  with  Jape  Samuels,  a  tricky  Jew  who 
is  trying  to  sell  the  stock  of  a  non-existent  silver  mine. 

SAMUELS 
Don't  want  to  make  your  fortune,  do  you  ? 

THE  STRANGER 
Do  not  all  men  ? 

SAMUELS 

Got  thomething  here  thath  going  to  make  mine.     I'm 
going  to  be  a  millionnaire.     Got  a  thilver  mine  here  — 
(he  strikes  the  papers  with  his  hands)  —  worth  —  I'm 


CHRIST'S  EXPECTATION  OF  MEN  15 

that  exthited  about  it,  I  go  about  telling  everybody  I 
meet.     (Laughs.)     Of  courth  they  don't  believe  me. 


SAMUELS 

Well,  it  ain't  thenth,  ith  it  ?  If  a  fellow  hath  got  hold 
of  a  good  thing,  he  keepth  it  to  himthelf  —  doethn't 
want  to  let  a  lot  of  other  people  into  it. 

THE  STRANGER 

It  depends  upon  the  "fellow."  There  are  generous 
fellows  who  like  to  share  their  fortune  with  their  friends. 

SAMUELS 

(He  looks  at  THE  STRANGER;  grows  bolder.)  Jutht 
exthactly  what  I  thay.  Why  not  share  with  your 
palth?  Ethpethally  when  —  ath  in  thith  cath  — 
thereth  enough  for  all.  (All  the  time  he  is  eying  THE 
STRANGER,  advancing  from  point  to  point.)  Would  you 
like  a  thmall  parthel?  (He  opens  his  papers,  pushes 
them  across  the  table,  towards  THE  STRANGER.)  You'd 
do  good  with  the  money.  I  can  thee  that.  For  a  mere 
couple  of  hundred  —  Here,  don't  lithen  to  me.  Look 
at  the  figurth  for  yourthelf.  They'll  thow  you.  (He 
seats  himself  the  other  side  of  the  table.) 


1 6  THE  GOSPEL  OF  GOOD  WILL 

THE  STRANGER 

(With  a  gentle  movement  he  pushes  them  back  across  the 
table.)  You  are  —  is  it  not  so  ?  —  a  Jew  ? 

SAMUELS 

(He  starts  back  as  though  struck.  With  snarling  anger.) 
Veil,  what  if  I  am?  You  can't  help  what  you  wath 
born.  Ath  a  matter  of  fact,  I  ain't  a  Jew  —  not  now. 
And  if  I  wath,  what  differenth  would  that  make  ? 

THE  STRANGER 

Your  word  would  be  sufficient. 
(SAMUELS  stares.) 

THE  STRANGER 
The  word  of  a  Jew. 

(A  silence.) 

SAMUELS 

What  makth  you  thay  that? 

THE  STRANGER 

So  many  of  the  noblest  men  I  have  known,  men  I 
have  loved,  (a  faraway  thought  is  in  his  eyes)  have  been 
Jews.  It  is  a  great  race  —  a  race  rich  in  honourable 

names. 

SAMUELS 

(He  is  hard  at  work  thinking.)  Yet  to  hear  the  way 
they  talk  and  thneer,  you'd  think  there  wath  thome- 
thing  dithgrathful  in  even  having  been  born  a  Jew. 


CHRIST'S  EXPECTATION  OF  MEN  17 

THE  STRANGER 
The  Jew  shall  teach  them  their  mistake. 

SAMUELS 

(He  glances  up — fidgets  in  his  chair.)  Of  courthe,  I 
don't  thay  that  thome  among  uth  mayn't  be  a  bit  tricky. 

THE  STRANGER 

There  are  to  be  found  everywhere  those  who  are  not 
ashamed  to  bring  dishonour  on  their  people. 

SAMUELS 

(He  rises.)  Jutht  exthactly  what  I  thay.  Thereth 
good  and  bad  everywhere.  We're  no  worthe  than 
anybody  elthe.  We  can  hold  our  own  —  I  don't  thay 
ath  we  can't.  If  it'th  a  game  of  who'th  going  to  betht 
whom  —  very  well,  we're  in  it.  If  a  thentleman  cometh 
to  uth,  treath  uth  ath  a  thentleman  — 

THE  STRANGER 

He  will  find  that  the  Jew  can  also  be  a  gentleman. 
(A  moment  —  he  touches  lightly  the  papers.")  You  were 
going  to  be  so  kind  — 

SAMUELS 

(He  stares  at  THE  STRANGER,  then  at  his  wonderful 
papers,  then  again  at  THE  STRANGER.)  Yeth,  I  did  — 
What  do  you  think  about  it  —  yourthelf  ? 


1 8  THE  GOSPEL  OF  GOOD  WILL 

THE  STRANGER 
That  your  offer  is  most  generous  —  that  I  accept  it, 

with  all  thanks. 

SAMUELS 

(He  is  still  staring  at  THE  STRANGER.)  Don't  you 
think  —  you'll  forgive  my  thaying  it,  but  you  don't 
thrike  me  exthactly  ath  a  buthineth  man  —  don't  you 
think  it  would  be  better  to  leave  it  over  for  a  day  or 
two  ?  —  conthult  a  friend  ? 

THE  STRANGER 
What  friend  better  than  yourself  ? 

SAMUELS 

(Slowly  he  draws  back  the  papers.)  Got  mythelf 
to  think  of.  Wath  forgetting  that.  You  thee,  if  you 
wath  to  take  my  word  and  anything  by  any  chanthe 
wath  to  go  wrong,  I  thould  feel  —  (Laughs,  then  gravely) 
well,  I  thould  feel  ath  though  I'd  been  thelling  the 
whole  Jewith  rathe  for  a  couple  of  hundred  pound th  or 
tho.  'Tain't  worth  it.  (He  moves  toward  the  door  — 
turns.)  Thorry.  Thomething  elthe,  perhapth  —  thome 
other  time. 

In  these  conversations  we  see  souls  in  the  very  process 
of  salvation :  putting  off  the  vulgarity  and  vanity  and 
trickery  they  had  mistaken  for  themselves,  and  putting 


CHRIST'S  EXPECTATION  OF  MEN  19 

on  their  better  selves,  which  THE  STRANGER  discovers 
and  reveals  to  them.  As  Mr.  Samuels  says  to  THE 
STRANGER  in  the  Epilogue,  "You  have  always  taken  it 
for  granted,  sir,  in  all  our  conversations,  that  I  was  a 
fine  fellow,  in  sympathy  with  fine  ideals.  But  that  is 
not  what  surprises  me :  it  is  to  find  —  that  you  are 
right."  In  the  same  way  Wright,  the  old  gambler, 
finds  his  real  self  in  ordering  portraits  of  both  himself 
and  his  landlady,  at  much  more  than  the  artist's  price, 
of  the  artist  lover  of  the  young  woman  whom  he  him- 
self gives  up :  thus  helping  the  lovers  to  get  married. 
That,  not  the  smutty,  flashy  gambler,  proves  to  be  the 
real  man. 

So  Larkcom  with  his  new  motto,  "Fun  without  Vul- 
garity," taking  pleasure  in  giving  pleasure  irrespective 
of  what  is  in  the  house,  proves  to  be  the  true  Harry 
Larkcom :  instead  of  little  Harry  of  the  money-box. 

The  method  of  THE  STRANGER  in  the  play  was  a 
favorite  method  of  Jesus.  In  the  unstable  Peter  he 
discovers  and  proclaims  the  rock  on  which  to  build  his 
church.  In  Zacchaeus,  the  hated  publican,  he  discovers 
and  reveals  the  scrupulously  just  son  of  Abraham.  In 
the  surprised  woman  of  Samaria  he  discovers  and  re- 
veals a  herald  of  the  Messiah,  a  disciple  of  the  religion 
of  the  Spirit. 


20  THE  GOSPEL  OF  GOOD  WILL 

This  is  the  method  to-day  of  those  who  are  dealing  at 
close  quarters  with  sin  and  sinners. 

In  his  "Beside  the  Bowery"  Dr.  John  Hopkins  Deni- 
son  gives  a  striking  instance  of  it  in  Mrs.  Eliza  Rock- 
well, "The  Lady  of  Good  Cheer,"  as  he  calls  her.  She 
had  come  to  call  on  the  long-suffering,  much-abused 
daughters  of  a  brutal,  drunken  father;  who  not  only 
abused  them  himself  but  in  his  crazed  drunken  condi- 
tion had  threatened  to  bring  home  a  crowd  of  his  drunken 
companions  to  carouse  all  night,  leaving  the  girls  at 
the  mercy  of  a  roomful  of  intoxicated  men. 

The  Lady  of  Good  Cheer  had  brought  some  food  for 
the  girls,  including  a  birthday  cake  in  honour  of  the 
birthday  of  one  of  the  girls. 

"They  were  in  the  midst  of  a  jolly  little  birthday 
party,  when  they  heard  a  heavy  stumbling  step  on  the 
stair.  "He's  coming!"  cried  the  girls.  For  the  Lady 
of  Good  Cheer  the  situation  was  a  dangerous  one.  No 
one  had  come  to  her  aid.  To  face  alone  a  man  who  was 
so  mad  with  drink  that  he  had  tried  to  kill  his  own 
children  is  hardly  a  pleasant  task,  and  this  man  was  a 
desperate  character,  who  in  his  present  mood  would 
not  hesitate  a  moment  to  strike  a  woman  or  knock  her 
down.  Yet  retreat  never  entered  her  mind.  If  her 
heart  beat  more  rapidly  as  she  waited  to  see  what  sort 


CHRIST'S  EXPECTATION  OF  MEN  21 

of  a  creature  it  was  with  which  she  had  to  deal,  no  one 
could  have  detected  it. 

In  a  moment  the  door  was  thrown  violently  open, 
and  a  huge  man  entered  with  the  lurching,  swinging 
stride  of  a  sailor.  He  had  been  fighting,  his  coat  was 
torn,  a  heavy  blow  on  the  cheek  bone  had  caused  a 
swelling  that  made  his  eyes  seem  narrower  and  more 
piglike  than  ever,  and  his  drooping,  sandy  moustache 
had  a  stain  of  blood  upon  it.  He  was  from  the  North 
of  Ireland,  and  his  origin  was  evident  in  his  speech, 
thickened  though  it  was  by  drink. 

"Gi'  me  s'  money,  Jessie,"  he  shouted,  "gotter  have 
s'  money!" 

"I  haven't  got  none,"  said  Jessie  sullenly. 

"Yes,  ye  have,  too !  don't  give  me  no  back  talk !  I 
know  yer  tricks!"  and  he  advanced  upon  her  with 
doubled  fist. 

The  Lady  of  Good  Cheer  rose  and  stepped  forward 
with  a  swift  movement  that  brought  her  between  the 
enraged  man  and  his  daughter. 

"Good  evening,  Mr.  Sanderson,"  she  said. 

He  had  been  so  absorbed  in  his  quest  for  the  money 
that  he  had  paid  no  attention  to  her.  Now  he  turned 
upon  her  with  surprise  and  wrath.  The  veins  on  his 
forehead  thickened.  With  that  sullen  scowl  on  his 


22  THE   GOSPEL   OF   GOOD   WILL 

face  he  was  as  ugly  a  beast  as  ever  assumed  a  human 
shape,  and  many  a  strong  man  would  have  thought 
twice  before  pursuing  the  conversation. 

''What're  ye  doin'  here?"  he  shouted.  "Teachin' 
my  girls  to  disobey  their  father.  I'll  teach  you  to 
butt  in." 

He  gave  a  quick  lurch  toward  her.  His  movements 
had  the  uncertain  and  violent  suddenness  of  a  man  mad- 
dened by  alcohol.  In  another  moment  he  would  have 
struck  her  down,  as  he  had  just  knocked  down  two  men 
who  barred  his  way  in  the  saloon.  She  faced  him,  tall 
and  slender,  with  head  erect.  Her  aquiline  nostrils 
quivered  a  little,  and  her  firm  lips  tightened  slightly, 
but  from  beneath  her  high  brow  her  deep,  steady  eyes, 
unflinching  and  calm,  looked  him  full  in  the  face. 

"Mr.  Sanderson,"  she  said  quietly,  "I  know  you  are 
a  gentleman,  and  that  you  would  never  do  anything  dis- 
courteous to  a  lady." 

With  those  eyes  upon  him,  the  drunken  brute  faltered. 
His  hands  sunk  to  his  side.  A  foolish  smile,  half  of 
embarrassment,  half  of  conceit,  came  over  his  face. 
"A  gentleman?  Yes,  sure  I'm  a  gentleman!"  he  said. 
He  gave  his  shoulders  a  sudden  hunch,  as  if  his  coat  were 
too  tight  for  them,  and  expanded  his  chest  in  imitation 
of  the  person  of  quality  he  was  supposed  to  resemble. 


CHRIST'S  EXPECTATION  OF  MEN  23 

Then  he  let  out  a  cracked  and  maudlin  laugh,  that 
sounded  like  the  crow  of  a  hoarse  rooster. 

The  girls  looked  on,  amazed  that  he  had  not  struck 
down  their  visitor.  He  could  hardly  account  for  it 
himself.  When  he  rushed  at  any  one  with  his  huge 
fist  poised,  he  was  accustomed  to  see  either  fear  or  rage 
in  his  victim's  eyes,  and  then  it  was  easyto  strike.  But 
in  these  eyes  there  was  no  trace  of  fear  nor  rage,  nor  yet 
that  more  maddening  expression  of  disgust  and  contempt. 
They  were  challenging  him  on  a  point  of  honour,  as  if 
they  refused  to  accept  him  at  his  face  value.  They 
seemed  to  question  and  probe,  but  not  to  laugh  at  him. 
There  was  almost  a  reverence  in  them.  He  felt  that 
she  had  found  in  him  something  that  deserved  respect, 
and  it  pleased  him.  He  paid  little  attention  to  her 
words,  but  the  sympathy  in  her  voice  arrested  him. 
She  was  not  fault-finding,  as  other  women  were.  Vague 
images  out  of  the  past  rose  before  his  bleared  eyes: 
the  image  of  a  white-haired  woman  by  the  fireside, 
whose  hands  were  stretched  out  to  bless  him,  the  vision 
of  a  fair-faced  bride  who  long  ago  bad  trusted  him  and 
believed  him  true.  The  Lady  of  Good  Cheer  talked 
on  of  his  home,  and  of  little  Nellie,  and  of  her  disappoint- 
ment that  her  birthday  had  been  forgotten. 

"Poor  little  Nellie!"  said  Sanderson,  maudlin  tears 


24  THE    GOSPEL   OF   GOOD    WILL 

coming  into  his  eyes.  "Shure,  'tis  a  shame !  It's  a  bad 
day  she's  had  for  sure !  Never  mind,  dearie,  your  dad'll 
give  you  a  fine  present  some  day!  But  I'm  too  poor 
now.  I'm  out  o'  work.  What  can  a  man  do?  Dear! 
Dear !  it's  terrible !"  and  he  gave  a  long  sigh. 

"You  see  we  have  a  birthday  cake,  anyway,"  said 
the  Lady  of  Good  Cheer.  "Isn't  that  nice?  Sit  down 
and  join  the  party." 

"No,"  said  Sanderson,  "I  must  go."  A  sudden 
fierceness  came  into  his  face,  and  he  turned  to  Jessie. 
"Now  give  me  that  money!  I've  got  to  have  it!  I 
won't  stand  no  foolin' !" 

He  lifted  his  huge  fist  again.  For  the  moment  he  was 
out  of  the  range  of  the  glance  by  which  the  Lady  of 
Good  Cheer  had  held  him. 

"Mr.  Sanderson!"  she  called. 

Her  voice,  though  quiet,  was  so  firm  and  authorita- 
tive that  Sanderson  turned,  expecting  a  tirade  and  pre- 
paring to  face  it  with  a  burst  of  rage.  But  instead  of 
a  scolding  he  met  a  glance  of  grateful  confidence  that 
seemed  to  thank  him  for  his  quick  understanding  and 
prompt  response.  She  seemed  so  sure  that  no  further 
word  could  be  necessary,  that  he  gave  a  gasp  of  aston- 
ishment. Before  he  could  speak  she  was  inquiring  in  a 
tone  of  great  sympathy  how  he  had  come  to  lose  his 


CHRIST'S  EXPECTATION  OF  MEN  25 

position  as  pressman,  and  to  meet  with  such  hard  luck. 
There  is  nothing  a  drunken  man  loves  more  than  to 
dilate  on  his  misfortunes,  and  Sanderson,  willing  to  be 
beguiled,  sank  down  on  the  sofa. 

He  sprawled  with  his  huge  length  over  the  sofa,  and 
she  began  to  speak  seriously  and  sympathetically  of  the 
life  he  had  been  living.  She  told  him  plainly  what 
she  thought  of  his  behaviour,  and  he  sat  quietly  and 
listened,  although  he  would  have  knocked  a  man  down 
for  saying  half  as  much.  For  he  felt  that,  though  she 
rebuked  him,  it  was  because  she  had  found  something 
in  him  she  respected  and  trusted,  and  he  recognized 
that  she  had  a  right  to  speak  as  she  did.  It  was  the 
same  right  which  he  had  acknowledged  in  those  who 
years  ago  had  believed  in  him  —  the  claim  which  faith 
and  love  always  have  over  a  man's  life.  The  battle 
was  won  long  before  help  came,  and  the  girls  were  safe 
that  night  from  terrors  worse  than  death.  On  her  way 
uptown  the  Lady  of  Good  Cheer  ended  her  account  of 
the  evening  by  saying:  "I  don't  care  what  you  say! 
I  like  Mr.  Sanderson.  There's  something  that's  really 
worth  while  at  the  bottom  of  that  man." 

Rev.  Frank  H.  Decker  of  Church  House,  Providence, 
is  past  master  of  the  same  method  of  the  Master.  He 


26  THE   GOSPEL   OF   GOOD   WILL 

had  sent  a  new  applicant  for  hospitality  out  with  a 
trusty  resident  of  Church  House  to  bring  a  bundle  of 
clothing  which  a  friend  had  offered  to  give  to  the  House. 
On  the  way  back  with  the  clothing  the  new  man  said 
to  his  trusty  companion,  "Let's  pawn  these  clothes, 
and  clear  out."  The  trusty  reported  the  remark  to 
Mr.  Decker,  and  Mr.  Decker  sent  for  him  and  said: 
"I  hear  that  you  proposed  to  pawn  the  clothing  you 
were  sent  to  bring,  and  clear  out."  "No,"  said  the 
man,  "I  didn't  say,  'Let's  pawn  them.'  I  said  'Some 
fellows  if  they  had  these  clothes  would  pawn  them.' ' 
To  which  Mr.  Decker,  intent  on  rinding  the  best  rather 
than  the  worst  in  the  man,  replied,  "There  is  something 
splendid  about  that  lie  of  yours.  It  shows  that  you 
care  for  my  good  opinion.  Now  I  will  show  you  how  to 
get  it."  How  many  of  us  would  have  had  enough  of 
the  Christ  Spirit  to  see  the  good  concealed  behind  the 
lie ;  instead  of  merely  the  evil  on  the  surface  of  the  pro- 
posal to  steal? 

Another  applicant  for  Church  House  hospitality  was 
sent  to  carry  home  some  chairs  that  had  been  reseated 
at  the  House.  At  the  end  of  the  first  block  he  put  down 
the  chairs  on  the  sidewalk  and  said  to  the  trusty  com- 
panion, "I  ain't  going  to  lug  these  chairs.  Why  should 
I?"  and  went  off.  Later  at  meal- time  he  reappeared. 


CHRIST'S  EXPECTATION  OF  MEN  27 

Mr.  Decker  in  calling  his  attention  to  the  affair,  instead 
of  blaming  the  man  apologized  to  him  for  his  own  con- 
duct, saying,  "I  began  too  far  along  with  you.  I  as- 
sumed that  you  could  appreciate  kindness.  I  see  you 
can't.  Perhaps  people  never  have  been  kind  to  you. 
Now  make  yourself  at  home  here  in  Church  House,  and 
let  us  show  you  what  kindness  is." 

That  man  became  one  of  the  most  devoted  members  of 
the  House;  willing  to  do  the  roughest,  most  disagree- 
able work,  of  which  there  is  a  great  deal,  to  help  the 
House  and  its  head. 

With  these  scenes  from  the  play,  and  these  modern 
instances  of  the  application  of  this  Christ  method  of 
appealing  to  the  good  man  within  the  bad  man,  we 
may  now  see  how  the  principle  applies  to  preaching. 

Preaching  is  the  art  of  keeping  constant  and  urgent 
before  men  Christ's  expectation  that  in  every  relation 
of  life  they  are  to  do  and  be  what  absolute  Good  Will 
requires.  As  examples  of  this  Christian  expectation  I 
have  taken  for  this  first  lecture  benevolence,  tem- 
perance, and  preparedness  for  peace  and  war. 

First;  benevolence.  The  man  who  looks  out  for 
himself  and  his  family  and  friends  exclusively,  so  far 
as  real  seriousness  goes,  giving  to  causes  and  appeals 
such  loose  change  or  small  checks  as  will  silence  impor- 


28  THE  GOSPEL  OF  GOOD  WILL 

tunity  and  maintain  respectability,  can  hardly  be  called 
in  this  matter  a  Christian.  He  is  doing  what  it  is  per- 
fectly easy  and  natural  to  do.  There  is  nothing  large 
and  generous  about  him ;  nothing  supernatural ;  nothing 
specially  Christlike.  Even  if  now  and  then  in  response 
to  stirring  appeals,  or  devices  that  subject  his  contribu- 
tions to  the  limelight  of  publicity,  he  gives  large  sums ; 
large  even  in  proportion  to  his  income;  he  does  not 
thereby  become  much  enlarged ;  he  does  not  rise  to  the 
stature  or  fulfil  the  expectation  of  Christ. 

Christ  and  the  Christian  preacher  expect  every 
disciple  to  devote  all  he  has  to  the  service  of  Good  Will. 
He  expects  him  to  put  every  dollar  where,  all  things 
considered,  in  view  of  his  talents,  responsibilities,  con- 
nections, and  place  and  function  in  the  social  system, 
it  will  do  the  most  good.  He  expects  him  to  give  all  to 
God  and  his  fellows;  reserving  for  himself  only  what 
God  and  right-minded  men  see  that  he  needs  for  maxi- 
mum efficiency  in  his  specific  station.  Christ  expects 
his  disciple  to  care  for  every  person  in  need ;  every  cause 
that  is  effectively  promoting  human  welfare.  To  those 
which  come  closest  to  his  connections  and  interests  he 
expects  him  to  give  up  to  the  point  where  giving  more 
would  do  more  harm  to  himself  and  his  family  than  it 
would  do  good  to  the  person  or  cause  to  which  it  was  given. 


CHRIST'S  EXPECTATION  OF  MEN  29 

Christ,  however,  is  reasonable:  and  the  Christian 
preacher  ordinarily  will  not  expect  his  people  to  deprive 
themselves  of  the  means  of  efficiency  in  their  station 
and  work,  to  give  to  others.  That  would  be  the  folly 
of  selling  our  oil  instead  of  lighting  our  lamps.  We  owe 
ourselves  and  our  families  a  care  for  the  conditions  of 
health,  happiness,  and  efficiency  which  we  owe  no  one 
else;  and  we  ought  to  be  as  generous  with  ourselves 
and  our  families  as  we  would  wish  and  expect  another 
to  be  in  our  place.  That  reasonable  provision  the  rea- 
sonable Christ  not  only  allows  but  expects  his  disciples 
in  all  ordinary  circumstances  to  make.  To  do  so  is  not 
selfishness:  it  is  perfectly  consistent  with  entire  Good 
Will ;  for  it  is  what  we  would  wish  and  advise  another 
servant  of  Good  Will  to  do  were  he  in  our  place. 

Yet  even  with  this  explanation  and  limitation  Christ's 
expectation  is  stupendous.  Even  if  Good  Will  gives 
back  to  us  all  that  we  need ;  it  is  a  hard  thing  to  give 
it  all  in  the  first  place.  To  give  to  the  church,  and 
charity  and  reform,  and  education  and  missions;  to 
individuals  and  families  in  distress ;  to  cities  in  devasta- 
tion, and  countries  under  oppression,  seems  impossible 
to  the  natural  man.  He  says  "I  can't  look  out  for  all 
their  interests.  I  can't  hold  all  human  and  social  needs 
as  objects  of  my  will ;  I  am  not  big  enough,  nor  wise 


3°  THE  GOSPEL  OF  GOOD  WILL 

enough,  nor  generous  enough.  Christ  says,  "You  can; 
you  are  big  enough :  I  will  stretch  your  will,  expand 
your  heart,  so  that  every  good  claim  will  appeal  to  you 
as  something  to  which  you  will  go  out  in  generous  re- 
sponse :  giving  gladly  when  you  can  do  so  without  sacri- 
ficing a  more  intimate  and  urgent  claim:  withholding 
regretfully  when  giving  in  this  direction  would  cause 
more  disastrous  sacrifice  elsewhere." 

Christ  expects  that  universal  and  at  the  same  time 
reasonable  benevolence  of  every  disciple.  That  is  his 
measure  of  the  capacity  of  every  human  heart :  he 
will  not  own  as  his  disciple  any  man  who  is  less  benevo- 
lent. There  are  two  premises  in  the  benevolent  appeal 
as  in  every  syllogism  :  a  major  and  a  minor.  The  major 
premise  of  the  Christian  man  is,  "I  desire  all  good  :  my 
entire  resources  are  at  the  service  of  universal  Good 
Will."  The  minor  premise  of  a  successful  appeal  must 
be,  "This  particular  cause  represents  more  good  than 
any  other  cause  to  which  I  could  devote  this  gift." 
The  Christian  man,  the  man  who  comes  up  to  Christ's 
expectation,  has  assented  to  the  major  premise  once  for 
all.  You  don't  have  to  argue  that  with  him  in  each 
new  case.  The  minor  premise  is  always  an  open  ques- 
tion on  which  in  each  case  he  must  be  specifically  con- 
vinced. The  man  who  is  not  a  Christian,  the  man  whom 


CHRIST'S  EXPECTATION  OF  MEN  31 

Christ  has  not  expanded  and  transformed,  lacks  the  first 
premise ;  so  that  even  if  you  convince  him  of  the  second, 
you  are  not  by  any  means  sure  that  his  gift  will  follow. 
It  is  a  question  of  chance,  emotion,  publicity,  vanity, 
whether  he  will  say  'Yes'  or  'No.'  With  the  Christian 
you  have  merely  to  establish  the  minor  premise;  and 
the  gift  is  sure  to  follow  if  the  man  is  a  real  follower 
of  Christ.  All  you  have  to  do  is  to  show  him  where  the 
most  good  lies :  to  the  most  good  in  general  he  is  already 
committed  by  his  acceptance  of  Good  Will  as  his  prin- 
ciple of  action  in  response  to  Christ's  high  expectation. 

In  the  name  of  Christ  then  the  preacher  says  to  his 
congregation  from  the  pulpit,  and  to  individuals  in 
personal  appeals:  "You  are  big  and  generous  enough 
to  devote  all  you  have  to  the  greatest  good  to  which  it 
can  be  put.  I  count  on  you  for  that :  you  wouldn't  be 
Christians  if  you  were  any  smaller  or  less  generous. 
I  present  this  specific  cause :  I  can't  judge  for  you  how 
it  compares  with  other  claims;  how  much  you  ought 
to  give.  I  trust  you  to  do  that  justly;  and  whether 
you  give  much  or  little,  anything  or  nothing,  I  shall 
feel  sure  that  Christ  is  well  pleased  with  you,  and  you 
are  well  pleased  with  what  you  have  done. 

The  preacher  who  comes  to  his  congregation  with 
this  great  Christlike  expectation  will  get  more  money 


32  THE  GOSPEL  OF  GOOD  WILL 

than  one  who  flatters,  and  wheedles,  and  brings  pressure 
of  unwelcome  publicity,  or  resorts  to  secular  devices : 
and  he  will  be  developing  benevolence  as  one  specific 
feature  of  the  Gospel  of  Good  Will. 

Temperance  may  be  preached  on  either  of  three  planes. 
By  temperance  I  mean  self-control  of  all  appetites  and 
passions.  You  may  try  to  scare  men  into  it  by  showing 
pictures  of  the  drunkard's  stomach ;  and  giving  detailed 
descriptions  of  venereal  disease.  That  is  the  appeal  to 
prudence ;  to  caution ;  I  had  almost  said,  to  cowardice. 
The  man  who  is  temperate  on  such  grounds  will  be  a 
more  comfortable  man  physically  than  the  man  who 
recklessly  gratifies  his  appetites  and  passions.  But 
spiritually  he  is  not  much  bigger  than  the  man  of  in- 
temperate indulgence.  Indeed  from  some  points  of 
view  he  looks  smaller ;  and  the  contempt  in  which  the 
ascetic  is  held  by  the  crowd  of  jolly  good  fellows  with 
whom  he  refuses  to  run  to  the  same  excess  of  riot  is  not 
without  its  measure  of  justification.  From  the  merely 
physical  point  of  view  appetite  and  passion  in  process 
of  gratification  is  a  bigger,  stronger  thing  than  appetite 
and  passion  repressed.  All  who  have  to  do  with  young 
men  know  that  this  anchor  alone  does  not  hold.  We 
throw  it  out  with  the  rest  for  what  it  is  worth.  We  doubt- 
less restrain  a  few  weaklings  by  it.  But  this  is  not  the 


CHRIST  S  EXPECTATION   OF   MEN  33 

main  reliance  of  a  wise  teacher  and  preacher.  It  is  not 
the  method  of  Christ. 

A  second  approach  is  little  better.  We  may  point 
to  the  disgrace  which  follows  unlawful  indulgence.  We 
may  appeal  to  a  man's  desire  to  be  respectable  in  the 
eyes  of  respectable  men  and  women.  This  is  the  mod- 
ern equivalent  of  what  St.  Paul  called  "the  law";  the 
judgment  of  society.  Yet  a  man  may  restrain  appetite 
and  passion  for  these  reasons,  and  still  be  a  very  small 
soul.  He  too  is  a  coward  ;  afraid  of  the  speech  of  people 
rather  than  of  the  penalties  of  nature. 

Jesus  never  condescended  to  that  plane :  and  though 
we  cast  out  this  anchor  after  the  other,  for  real  holding 
power,  if  we  are  wise,  we  rely  on  something  far  stronger 
and  higher.  We  appeal  to  a  bigger  and  better  man 
than  the  man  who  always  asks,  "What  will  people  say 
about  me  and  do  to  me,  if  I  am  as  indulgent  in  these 
matters  as  I  would  be  if  I  dared  ?  "  Whether  in  ourselves 
or  in  others  we  don't  much  respect  that  attitude;  and 
we  can't  hope  to  inspire  much  respect  for  it  in  our 
parishioners. 

The  Christian  call  for  temperance  is  an  appeal  to 
consider  the  consequences  of  drunkenness  and  licentious- 
ness to  the  wives  and  daughters  of  the  poor.  We  do 
not  wish  the  home  life  of  the  drunkard's  wife  and  chil- 


34  THE   GOSPEL   OF   GOOD   WILL 

dren,  for  women  and  children  dear  to  us.  But  we  are 
large  enough  to  care  for  the  home  life  of  all  men,  women, 
and  children ;  and  Christian  temperance  is  such  control 
as  through  influence  and  example  shall  tend  to  dis- 
courage the  blasting  of  homes  by  drink;  and  make 
happy  and  decent  homes  for  all.  To  that  bigger,  better 
self  that  wills  the  good  of  all  whom  our  conduct  even 
remotely  affects,  the  preacher  of  Christian  temperance 
will  appeal. 

The  same  is  true  of  sex.  I  often  ask  a  College  class 
how  many  of  them  would  wish  for  their  mothers  and 
sisters  the  life  of  the  prostitute?  The  very  thought  of 
such  a  thing  is  horrible.  How  many  wish  it  for  the 
sisters  and  daughters  of  somebody  else?  The  man 
who  wishes  something  for  his  mother,  sister,  wife,  daugh- 
ter, which  he  does  not,  to  the  extent  of  his  direct  and 
indirect  influence,  wish  for  other  men's  mothers,  sisters, 
wives,  and  daughters  is  not  a  very  large  and  noble  sort 
of  man.  "You  are  not  so  small  and  mean  as  that,"  the 
preacher  says.  "You  are  chivalrous  enough  by  prac- 
tice, precept  and  example  to  seek  for  all  women  their 
dignity,  their  happiness,  their  life;  even  though  these 
women  are  too  unfortunate,  or  too  silly,  or  too  perverse 
to  cherish  these  things  for  themselves.  Expect  chivalry 
of  men :  expect  a  Good  Will  as  generous  and  chivalrous 


CHRIST'S  EXPECTATION  OF  MEN  35 

toward  woman  as  is  the  Will  of  Christ;  and  men  like 
Wright  and  Harry  Larkcom  in  the  play,  men  strongly 
tempted  to  licentiousness,  will  respond  to  the  call  to 
be  in  this  respect  their  better  selves. 

For  self-control  on  that  generous,  chivalrous  Chris- 
tian ground  is  something  all  men  in  their  inmost  hearts 
respect  and  admire.  Prudential  self-control,  whether 
of  the  physical  or  social  type,  the  libertine  with  some 
show  of  reason  may  affect  to  despise.  But  even  he 
knows  and  feels  that  the  man  who  refuses  for  his  own 
passing  pleasure  to  wreck  homes,  ruin  girls,  and  doom 
to  misery  and  shame  a  whole  class  of  wretched  women : 
—  even  the  libertine  knows  that  this  man  of  chivalrous 
self-control  is  a  bigger,  stronger,  braver,  better  man  than 
himself.  Invite  even  him  to  be  that  man  of  chivalrous 
self-control,  and  to  his  great  surprise,  perhaps,  he  will 
admit  in  theory  that  you  are  right :  and  if  the  contact 
between  you  and  him  is  intimate  enough  and  constant 
enough :  if  you  can  get  and  keep  Christ  and  this  Chris- 
tian chivalry  in  close  enough  touch  with  his  heart,  his 
changed  conviction  will  bear  fruit  in  a  changed  life. 
To  keep  that  positive  picture  of  Christ  and  Christian 
chivalry  clear  before  the  eyes,  warm  within  the  heart, 
and  compelling  behind  the  will,  as  what  Christ  and  you 
expect  of  the  men  to  whom  you  speak  in  public  sermon 


36  THE  GOSPEL  OF  GOOD  WILL 

and  in  private  interview  —  that  is  the  fine  Christlike 
art  of  preaching  Christian  temperance. 

Here  in  the  United  States  we  have  more  of  such  tem- 
perance than  is  to  be  found  anywhere  else  in  the  world : 
so  much  that  when  we  tell  foreigners  the  truth  about 
the  Christian  young  people  in  our  schools  and  colleges, 
our  Endeavor  Societies  and  Christian  Associations,  they 
hardly  can  believe  us.  They  have  not  yet  learned  to 
trust  the  Christian  expectation  which  takes  for  granted 
chivalry  in  men  and  chastity  in  women  when  once  its 
rational  and  noble  basis  is  made  clear.  Still  even  here 
in  America  we  have  hardly  developed  more  than  one  or 
two  per  cent  of  the  power  latent  in  this  Christian  appeal 
for  a  temperance  that  is  rooted  and  grounded  in  the  great- 
ness and  nobleness  of  a  Will  that  seeks  the  Good  of  all ; 
the  injury  of  none. 

Good  Will,  likewise,  rather  than  the  letter  of  any 
ancient  precept,  must  solve  in  each  specific  case  the 
question  of  peace  or  war.  Christ  does  not  expect  of 
his  followers  either  peace  or  war,  as  such.  He  ex- 
pects Good  Will  toward  all.  When  that  Good  Will 
comes  to  be  the  spirit  of  all  men  and  nations,  peace 
will  follow  as  surely  as  daylight  follows  sunrise.  It 
is  the  Christian's  privilege  and  duty  to  have  that  Good 
Will  toward  all,  to  develop  it  in  others,  and  to  the  extent 


CHRIST'S  EXPECTATION  OF  MEN  37 

of  his  influence  make  it  the  policy  of  his  nation,  and 
through  his  nation  to  commend  it  in  the  form  of  in- 
ternational agreements,  treaties,  and  courts  of  arbitra- 
tion to  all  the  nations  of  the  earth. 

Unfortunately,  this  Good  Will  is  still  far  from  being 
the  rule  of  all  individuals  and  of  nations.  As  long  as 
some  individuals  and  some  nations  are  animated  by 
self-will,  and  are  capable  of  lapsing  into  positive  ill  will, 
so  long  it  may  become  at  any  time  the  duty  of  Chris- 
tian men  and  Christian  nations,  as  an  expression  of  their 
Good  Will  toward  all,  to  resist  by  force  the  aggressions 
of  selfish  men  and  selfish  nations.  Such  resistance  is 
not  a  violation,  but  an  expression  of  Good  Will.  It  is 
not  good  for  the  oppressed  to  be  oppressed,  nor  for  the 
oppressor  to  oppress  them;  and  the  Christian  man 
and  the  Christian  nation  is  doing  a  service  to  both 
parties  when  he  uses  force  to  resist  any  injustice  to  him- 
self, or  to  his  nation,  or  to  nations  with  which  he  is 
identified  by  proximity,  treaty,  or  other  bonds  of  obliga- 
tion. If  it  is  the  duty  of  a  Christian  nation  to  use  force, 
it  becomes  also  its  duty  to  have  a  reasonable  amount  of 
force  to  use.  A  Christian  country  cannot  live  up  to  its 
obligations  to  itself,  to  other  nations  with  which  it  is  allied, 
and  to  humanity,  unless  it  maintains  a  sufficient  military 
force  to  enable  it  to  resist  aggression  and  injustice. 


38  THE   GOSPEL  OF   GOOD   WILL 

Of  course  the  possession  of  a  ready  military  power  is 
a  temptation  to  its  misuse.  The  fact  that  a  country 
adopts  a  policy  of  preparedness  to  fight  increases  ten- 
fold the  obligation  to  maintain  a  Christian  sentiment 
which  will  refuse  to  fight  so  long  as  the  ends  of  honor 
and  justice  can  be  secured  by  other  means.  The  danger 
of  militarism  from  preparedness  is  real.  Power  of  all 
kinds  involves  serious  risk.  It  is  easier  to  be  generous 
without  great  wealth  than  with  it;  yet  the  generous 
rich  man  can  do  much  more  good  than  the  generous  poor 
man.  It  is  easier  for  an  emasculated  man  than  for  a 
man  of  vigorous  virility  to  control  appetite  and  passion ; 
but  no  one  in  these  days  advocates  that  easy  but  dis- 
credited device  for  self-control.  Precisely  on  the  same 
ground,  while  Good  Will  may  be  easier  without  than 
with  an  army  and  navy,  Good  Will  that  maintains  an 
army  and  navy,  uses  them  strictly  in  the  service  of 
justice,  and  refrains  from  the  injustice  they  give  power 
to  do,  is  a  far  greater  manifestation  of  Good  Will,  and 
therefore  a  deeper  and  higher  Christianity. 

That  such  Good  Will  is  not  an  empty  dream  of  the 
cloister,  but  a  growing  reality  in  the  minds  and  hearts  of 
Christian  men  the  world  over,  is  illustrated  by  the  fol- 
lowing statement  of  Dr.  Friedrich  Wilhelm  Forster, 
Professor  of  Education  in  Munich.  I  quote  a  German 


CHRIST  S  EXPECTATION   OF   MEN  39 

all  the  more  willingly  in  this  connection  because  so  many 
sentiments  of  a  contrary  tenor  have  come  from  that 
country.  In  an  address  to  the  youth  of  Germany  on 
the  present  war,  Dr.  Forster  says : 

"  Hate  disorganizes,  love  disciplines.  Fill  yourselves 
with  deepest  sympathy  for  all  who  suffer  in  war,  whose 
hearts  are  crushed,  whose  bodies  are  broken,  whose 
homes  are  burned.  To  indulge  unbridled  antipathies 
is  not  in  harmony  with  that  great  discipline  of  soul  by 
which  alone  we  can  win  the  day.  England  needs  Ger- 
many, and  Germany  needs  England.  England  has 
given  us  invaluable  higher  points  of  view  for  the  treat- 
ment of  labor  questions  and  social  work.  She  has  taught 
our  revolutionary  spirits  to  moderate  our  party  passions. 
Let  us  always  remember  this,  and  in  that  remembrance 
grasp  again  for  the  future  the  proffered  hand.  It  is  for 
that  better  England  we  are  fighting  when  we  do  all  we 
can  to  humble  and  tame  thoroughly  and  for  its  own  good 
that  lower  England  that  is  now  in  power.  The  national 
principle  has  had  a  disastrous  destructive  effect  on 
world  civilization.  A  nation  destroys  itself,  annihilates 
the  whole  sum  of  civilization,  if  these  national  unities  do 
not  see  that  a  wider  phase  must  follow  —  the  reestablish- 
ment  of  true  cooperation  between  the  different  races.  In 
the  union  of  races  will  the  universal  Christ  be  born  in  us." 


40  THE  GOSPEL  OF  GOOD  WILL 

An  Englishman,  John  Oman,  in  his  "The  War  and 
its  Issues"  teaches  the  same  lesson.  "We  can  have  no 
part  in  any  gospel  of  hate,  as  if  at  the  present  time  the 
Germans  were  mere  fiends  in  human  shape.  We  may 
have  to  recognise  that  they  have  adopted  a  cause  for 
which  they  must  suffer,  but  we  should  do  so  in  sorrow, 
as  a  judge  who  must  condemn,  yet  who  would  be  no 
judge  did  he  condemn  with  a  light  heart  or  in  the  heat 
of  passion.  Even  more  than  towards  others,  we  must 
exercise  the  judgment  of  charity  towards  the  enemy, 
recognising  that  we  are  sure  to  hear  of  the  evil  and  not 
the  good,  and  allowing  for  the  possible  bias  of  our  own 
hearts.  And  while  we  know  it  is  vain  to  say  "  Peace  " 
when  there  is  no  peace,  or  set  up  any  other  standard 
of  peace  except  what  will  endure,  we  would  not  have  a 
war  pursued  beyond  that  necessary  point,  and  would 
have  no  share  in  inflicting  a  ruin  which  was  merely 
vindictive.  We  will  not  imagine  that  much  conquest 
and  little  conciliation  can  destroy  Germany  and  save 
Britain.  We  should  recognise  that  a  peace  to  be  abid- 
ing must  be  established  in  righteousness  and  a  sense  of 
mutual  benefit  and  Good  Will." 

The  same  basis  alike  of  just  peace  and  righteous  war 
is  set  forth  by  Felix  Adler  in  his  "The  World  Crisis 
and  its  Meaning."  "We  have  dwelt  too  long  upon  the 


CHRIST'S  EXPECTATION  OF  MEN  41 

cosmopolitan  ideal  of  the  likeness  subsisting  underneath 
the  differences  that  distinguish  men  from  one  another. 
We  must  insist  as  we  never  yet  have  done  on  respect 
for  the  differences  themselves,  on  the  right  of  men  and 
nations  to  be  unlike  ourselves,  on  our  obligation  not 
only  to  tolerate  but  to  welcome  the  differences,  recog- 
nizing their  fruitful  interdependence  and  seeking  to 
achieve  their  eventual  harmony.  This  is  the  new  con- 
ception of  human  brotherhood  without  which  war  and 
the  preparations  for  war  will  not  cease.  There  must  be 
created  throughout  the  world,  not  the  belief  in  an  indi- 
vidualistic cosmopolitan  brotherhood  such  as  the  peace 
movement  has  hitherto  advocated,  but  a  deep  sense  of 
the  worth  of  the  different  types  of  civilization,  and  the 
need  of  each  to  be  complemented  by  the  rest. 

"Thus  national  humility,  compatible  with  proper 
confidence  in  a  national  destiny,  is  the  keynote  of  inter- 
national ethics.  Not  the  pride  of  any  people,  in  its 
poor  conceit  esteeming  itself  the  torch-bearer  or  the 
model  for  all  the  rest ;  but  the  humility  of  each  people, 
the  consciousness  of  defect,  is  the  fundamental  condi- 
tion of  human  peace  and  progress.  In  the  last  analysis 
there  must  be  a  bond  of  high  and  pure  self-interest  to 
tie  the  nations  together.  That  highest  and  purest 
self-interest  is  interest  in  the  development  of  each 


42  THE   GOSPEL  OF   GOOD   WILL 

nation's  own  national  personality,  as  conditioned  by 
and  accomplished  through  its  beneficent  influence  in 
multiplying  the  variety  and  beauty  of  the  psychic  types 
among  mankind.  By  patient  effort,  by  a  more  pene- 
trating ethical  teaching,  and  by  the  wit  and  wisdom 
to  create  institutions  and  instrumentalities  suitable  to 
foster  the  better  traits,  we  may  work  for,  if  we  shall  not 
live  to  see,  the  time  when  the  angelic  song  shall  be  ful- 
filled, of  peace  among  men  because  they  shall  have 
learned  to  take  towards  one  another  the  essential  inward 
attitude  of  Good  Will." 

Christ's  expectation  is  neither  war  on  any  provoca- 
tion, nor  peace  at  any  price ;  but  Good  Will,  expressed 
through  peace  where  peace  is  justly  possible ;  expressed 
through  war  where  war  is  inevitable.  Rightly  and 
broadly  understood  Christ  does  not  forbid  participation 
in  war,  or  preparedness  for  war.  To  quote  again  John 
Oman  on  this  point:  "So  long  as  religion  means  a 
greater  sense  of  social  responsibility,  no  man  can  be 
governed  by  a  mere  negative  ruling  from  any  quarter." 

The  preacher's  duty  about  preparedness  for  and 
participation  in  war  is  not  to  tell  his  people  precisely 
how  many  officers  and  men,  battleships  and  sub- 
marines, we  shall  have;  nor  even  when  war  shall  and 
shall  not  be  declared.  It  is  to  make  sure  that  the  spirit 


CHRIST'S  EXPECTATION  OF  MEN  43 

in  which  we  prepare  for  and  declare  both  war  and  peace 
shall  be  one  of  Good  Will  toward  all  the  nations  con- 
cerned. 

Good  Will  requires  such  measure  of  preparedness 
as  will  defend  us  against  aggression,  fulfil  our  obliga- 
tions to  our  neighbors,  maintain  our  rights  in  treaties, 
and  contribute  to  the  justice  and  peace  of  the  world 
an  influence  commensurate  with  our  numbers,  our 
wealth,  and  our  intelligence.  Less  is  folly;  more  is 
crime.  That  the  preacher  of  the  Gospel  of  Good  Will 
should  proclaim;  leaving  to  statesmen  the  determina- 
tion of  precisely  what  is  that  measure  of  preparedness. 
The  Christian  attitude  toward  war  is  happily  expressed 
in  the  epitaph  proposed  for  Rupert  Brooke  and  Roland 
Poulter :  "  They  went  to  war  in  the  cause  of  peace  and 
died  without  hate  that  love  might  live." 

Perhaps  some  one  will  ask  "What  rewards  are  given, 
here  or  hereafter,  for  responding  to  so  high  an  expecta- 
tion, and  living  so  great  a  life?"  It  is  its  own  reward : 
and  to  look  for  extraneous  recompense  is  to  miss  it 
altogether.  Unless  Christ,  and  the  Christlike  Spirit 
in  our  fellow-men,  appeal  to  us  as  the  life  we  supremely 
admire  and  desire,  we  can  have  no  part  or  lot  in  it. 
Christ  and  his  Good  Will  refuse  to  take  second  place 
as  means  to  happiness  here  or  heaven  hereafter.  Who- 


44  THE   GOSPEL   OF   GOOD   WILL 

ever  attempts  to  put  rewards  first  and  Christ  and 
his  expectation  second,  whether  for  himself  in  practice, 
or  for  others  in  preaching,  belittles  and  belies  the  whole 
Gospel  of  Good  Will;  and  so,  missing  the  Christian 
life,  as  a  matter  of  course  misses  the  "rewards"  he  is 
so  eager  to  secure.  He  that  loveth  rewards  more  than 
Christ  is  not  worthy  of  him ;  and  being  unworthy  of  him 
is  incapable  of  appropriating  the  blessings  he  confers. 

Still,  while  it  is  impossible  to  get  rewards  by  seeking 
to  discount  them  as  something  separate  from  Christ 
and  his  Spirit  of  Good  Will,  certain  benefits  and  bless- 
ings come  with  this  life  as  by-products,  which  the 
preacher  has  a  right  to  couple  with  his  presentation  of 
the  Gospel  of  Good  Will. 

Breadth  of  heart,  as  John  Galsworthy  calls  it,  is  the 
first  and  greatest.  He  who  rises  to  Christ's  expecta- 
tion becomes  thereby  one  in  sympathy  and  affection 
with  all  whom  his  life  touches,  and  all  whom  his  sym- 
pathy and  prayer  can  reach.  He  grows  great  with 
something  of  the  greatness  of  the  Father  whose  Good 
Will  to  all  men  and  all  nations  he  shares  and  serves. 

He  becomes  one  with  Christ  in  an  intimate  and  blessed 
fellowship  of  aim  and  endeavor,  service  and  sacrifice; 
so  that  he  is  never  alone  or  companionless :  but  in  what- 
ever he  undertakes  feels  the  supporting  presence,  the 


CHRIST'S  EXPECTATION  OF  MEN  45 

steadying  purpose  of  the  Great  Master  who  comes  across 
the  seas  and  the  centuries  to  take  up  his  abode  in  the 
heart  of  every  faithful  follower. 

He  enters  into  a  profound  and  tender  communion 
with  a  company  of  men  and  women,  larger  or  smaller 
according  to  the  scope  and  range  of  his  life,  who  share 
his  purpose,  and  whose  purpose  he  shares ;  so  that  each 
looks  upon  the  other  as  an  incarnation  of  Christ's  Spirit 
of  Good  Will;  and  each  is  loved  and  cherished  by  the 
others  on  this  high  and  holy  plane. 

This  communion  and  fellowship  of  the  Spirit  of  mutual 
Good  Will  toward  each  other  and  toward  all  is  so  much 
deeper,  sweeter,  stronger,  richer  than  ties  of  propinquity, 
passion,  profit  or  pleasure,  that  those  who  have  once 
found  it  recognize  it  as  the  pearl  of  great  price  for  the 
sake  of  which  all  other  goods  like  wealth,  honor,  leisure, 
amusement,  so  far  as  they  may  conflict  with  it,  are 
eagerly  given  hi  exchange. 


n 

FALLING  SHORT  OF  GOOD   WILL:    THE  MEANNESS 

OF  SIN 

"The  devil  takes  sweet  shapes  when  he  tells  lies."  JOHN 
MASEFIELD,  The  Widow  in  the  Bye  Street,  p.  218. 

OUR  text  is  taken  from  our  most  effective  modern 
preacher  of  the  exceeding  sinfulness  of  sin,  its  meanness 
and  cruelty  and  wantonness.  If  he  dwells  chiefly  on 
sexual  sin  it  is  because  there  the  apparent  good  offered 
is  most  alluring  and  intense;  while  the  resulting  evil 
is  most  cruel  and  heartbreaking. 

This  contemporary  English  poet,  both  in  the  rough 
experiences  of  his  life,  and  the  coarse  frankness  of  his 
language,  has  shown  himself  to  be  like  Jesus  in  at  least 
one  particular  —  his  genuine  friendship  for  publicans 
and  sinners.  Above  most  modern  writers  he  has  the 
art  to  turn  sin  inside  out;  and  in  place  of  the  brave, 
gay  pleasures  for  which  it  is  sought,  show  the  unspeak- 
able misery  and  woe  it  inevitably  brings  to  those  who 
have  to  pay  its  bitter  penalty.  As  Dickens  showed 

46 


FALLING   SHORT   OF   GOOD   WILL  47 

Steerforth  the  seducer  in  the  light  of  the  grief  of  the 
Peggotty  household,  John  Masefield  shows  sexual  sin 
against  the  background  of  the  betrayed  woman's  shame ; 
or  the  misled  boy's  broken-hearted  mother. 

For  a  straight  lesson  to  the  libertine  there  is  nothing 
better  than  Masefield's  lines  in  "The  Everlasting 

Mercy." 

O  young  men,  pray  to  be  kept  whole 

From  bringing  down  a  weaker  soul. 

Your  minute's  joy  so  meet  in  doin' 

May  be  the  woman's  door  to  ruin ; 

The  door  to  wandering  up  and  down, 

A  painted  whore  at  half  a  crown. 

The  bright  mind  fouled,  the  beauty  gay 

All  eaten  out  and  fallen  away, 

By  drunken  days  and  weary  tramps 

From  pub  to  pub  by  city  lamps 

Till  men  despise  the  game  they  started, 

Till  health  and  beauty  are  departed, 

And  in  a  slum  the  reeking  hag 

Mumbles  a  crust  with  toothy  jag, 

Or  gets  a  river's  help  to  end 

The  life  too  wrecked  for  man  to  mend. 

A  more  elaborate  and  artistic  treatment  of  the  evil 
woman  is  found  in  "The  Widow  in  the  Bye  Street." 
There  the  cruelty  of  leading  an  innocent  boy  astray 
is  revealed  in  terms  of  the  humble  but  happy  home  the 
wanton  woman  destroyed  for  the  widowed  mother. 


48  THE  GOSPEL  OF  GOOD  WILL 

The  story  is  about  the  fall  of  the  boy  through  the  wiles 
of  the  evil  woman :  but  the  title  is  "The  Widow  in  the 
Bye  Street" ;  and  the  reader  is  made  to  see  each  move, 
'  not  as  the  mere  outward  acts  of  the  principal  actors ; 
but  as  it  cuts  into  the  flesh  and  eats  into  the  heart  of 
the  poor  widow-mother.  That  is  where  you  must  look 
to  discover  the  real  sinfulness  of  sin.  Without  this 
background  of  mother  love  and  domestic  joy,  the  folly 
of  the  boy,  the  sin  of  the  woman,  could  not  be  seen  as 
the  cruel  and  utterly  despicable  things  they  are. 

The  story  opens  with  a  picture  of  this  poor  widow 
in  her  home  struggling  to  buy  bread  for  the  son  who  was 
all  her  life's  delight. 

Down  Bye  Street,  in  a  little  Shropshire  town, 
There  lived  a  widow  with  her  only  son : 
She  had  no  wealth  nor  title  to  renown, 
Nor  any  joyous  hours,  never  one. 
She  rose  from  ragged  mattress  before  sun 
And  stitched  all  day  until  her  eyes  were  red, 
And  had  to  stitch  because  her  man  was  dead. 

Sometimes  she  fell  asleep,  she  stitched  so  hard, 

Letting  the  linen  fall  upon  the  floor ; 

And  hungry  cats  would  steal  in  from  the  yard, 

And  mangy  chickens  pecked  about  the  door, 

Craning  their  necks  so  ragged  and  so  sore 

To  search  the  room  for  bread  crumbs,  or  for  mouse, 

But  they  got  nothing  in  the  widow's  house. 


FALLING   SHORT   OF   GOOD   WILL  49 

Mostly  she  made  her  bread  by  hemming  shrouds 
For  one  rich  undertaker  in  the  High  Street, 
Who  used  to  pray  that  folks  might  die  in  crowds 
And  that  their  friends  might  pay  to  let  them  lie  sweet ; 
And  when  one  died  the  widow  in  the  Bye  Street 
Stitched  night  and  day  to  give  the  worm  his  dole. 
The  dead  were  better  dressed  than  that  poor  soul. 

Her  little  son  was  all  her  life's  delight, 
For  in  his  little  features  she  could  find 
A  glimpse  of  that  dead  husband  out  of  sight, 
Where  out  of  sight  is  never  out  of  mind. 
And  so  she  stitched  till  she  was  nearly  blind, 
Or  till  the  tallow  candle  end  was  done, 
To  get  a  living  for  her  little  son. 

Her  love  for  him  being  such  she  would  not  rest, 
It  was  a  want  which  ate  her  out  and  in, 
Another  hunger  in  her  withered  breast 
Pressing  her  woman's  bones  against  the  skin. 
To  make  him  plump  she  starved  her  body  thin. 
And  he,  he  ate  the  food,  and  never  knew, 
He  laughed  and  played  as  little  children  do. 

When  there  was  little  sickness  in  the  place 

She  took  what  God  would  send,  and  what  God  sent 

Never  brought  any  color  to  her  face 

Nor  life  into  her  footsteps  when  she  went. 

Going,  she  trembled  always  withered  and  bent, 

For  all  went  to  her  son,  always  the  same, 

He  was  first  served  whatever  blessing  came. 

£ 


5O  THE   GOSPEL   OF   GOOD   WILL 

Sometimes  she  wandered  out  to  gather  sticks, 
For  it  was  bitter  cold  there  when  it  snowed. 
And  she  stole  hay  out  of  the  farmer's  ricks 
For  bands  to  wrap  her  feet  in  while  she  sewed, 
And  when  her  feet  were  warm  and  the  grate  glowed 
She  hugged  her  little  son,  her  heart's  desire, 
With  "Jimmy,  ain't  it  snug  beside  the  fire?" 

So  years  went  on  till  Jimmy  was  a  lad 

And  went  to  work  as  poor  lads  have  to  do, 

And  then  the  widow's  loving  heart  was  glad 

To  know  that  all  the  pains  she  had  gone  through, 

And  all  the  years  of  putting  on  the  screw, 

Down  to  the  sharpest  turn  a  mortal  can, 

Had  borne  their  fruit,  and  made  her  child  a  man. 

He  got  a  job  at  working  on  the  line, 
Tipping  the  earth  down,  trolley  after  truck, 
From  daylight  till  the  evening,  wet  or  fine, 
With  arms  all  red  from  wallowing  in  the  muck, 
And  spitting,  as  the  trolley  tipped,  for  luck, 
And  singing  "Binger"  as  he  swung  the  pick, 
Because  the  red  blood  ran  in  him  so  quick. 

So  there  was  bacon  then  at  night,  for  supper 
In  Bye  Street  there,  where  he  and  mother  stay ; 
And  boots  they  had,  not  leaky  in  the  upper, 
And  room  rent  ready  on  the  settling  day ; 
And  beer  for  poor  old  mother,  worn  and  grey, 
And  fire  in  frost ;  and  in  the  widow's  eyes 
It  seemed  the  Lord  had  made  earth  paradise. 


FALLING  SHORT  OF  GOOD  WILL          51 

And  there  they  sat  of  evenings  after  dark 
Singing  their  songs  of  "Binger,"  he  and  she, 
Her  poor  old  cackle  made  the  mongrels  bark 
And  "You  sing  Binger,  mother,"  carols  he; 
"By  crimes,  but  that's  a  good  song,  that  her  be :" 
And  then  they  slept  there  in  the  room  they  shared, 
And  all  the  time  fate  had  his  end  prepared. 

That  is  the  background.  For  the  story  thrown  on 
that  background  I  must  refer  you  to  the  book  itself. 
A  loose  woman, 

A  copper  coin  for  any  man  to  spend 

meets  the  boy  at  a  country  fair,  leads  him  astray 
through  posing  as  virtuous  and  unhappy,  and  appealing 
to  his  pity  and  his  passion.  He  spends  his  money  on 
trinkets  for  her : 

Joy  of  her  beauty  ran  in  him  so  hot. 
Old  trembling  mother  by  him  was  forgot. 

He  loses  his  job ;  is  used  as  a  tool  to  bring  another  lover 
back  to  his  mistress :  finally  kills  the  other  lover  and  is 
sentenced  to  be  hung.  All  the  sad  tale  is  so  told  that 
the  poor  pleasures  of  the  strumpet  and  the  boy  are  seen 
and  felt  in  terms  of  the  heartache  and  anguish  of  the 
mother,  "crying  herself  blind"  ;  sorry  for  her  own  want 
and  misery,  but  more  sorry  for  the  poor  boy's  shame 


52  THE   GOSPEL   OF   GOOD   WILL 

and  delusion.     She  tells  him  what  true  love  is ;  and  tries 
to  show  him  that  this  is  counterfeit. 

"I  know  a  woman's  portion  when  she  loves, 
It's  hers  to  give,  my  darling,  not  to  take ; 
It  isn't  lockets,  dear,  nor  pairs  of  gloves, 
It  isn't  marriage  bells  nor  wedding  cake, 
It's  up  and  cook,  although  the  belly  ache ; 
And  bear  the  child,  and  up  and  work  again, 
And  count  a  sick  man's  grumble  worth  the  pain. 
Will  she  do  this,  and  fifty  times  as  much?" 

J.   "No.    I  don't  ask  her." 

M.   "No.    I  warrant,  no. 
She's  one  to  get  a  young  fool  in  her  clutch, 
And  you're  a  fool  to  let  her  trap  you  so. 
She  love  you  ?     She  ?    O  Jimmy,  let  her  go ; 
I  was  so  happy,  dear,  before  she  came, 
And  now  I'm  going  to  the  grave  in  shame. 
I  bore  you,  Jimmy,  in  this  very  room. 
For  fifteen  years  I  got  you  all  you  had, 
You  were  my  little  son,  made  in  my  womb, 
Left  all  to  me,  for  God  had  took  your  dad, 
You  were  a  good  son,  doing  all  I  bade, 
Until  this  strumpet  came  from  God  knows  where, 
And  now  you  lie,  and  I  am  in  despair." 

Before  his  death  the  boy  wakes  up  with  disgust 

At  finding  a  beloved  woman  light, 
And  all  her  precious  beauty  dirty  dust, 
A  tinsel-varnished  gilded  over  lust. 


FALLING  SHORT   OF   GOOD   WILL  53 

When  the  mother  comes  and  takes  a  room  to  be  near 
him  in  prison  he  asks  her, 

"Where  did  you  get  the  money  for  the  room? 
And  how  are  you  living,  mother ;  how'll  you  live?" 
"It's  what  I'd  saved  to  put  me  in  the  tomb, 
I'll  want  no  tomb  but  what  the  parish  give." 
"Mother,  I  lied  to  you  that  time,  O  forgive, 
I  brought  home  half  my  wages,  half  I  spent, 
And  you  went  short  that  week  to  pay  the  rent. 

"I  went  to  see'r,  I  spent  my  money  on  her, 
And  you  who  bore  me  paid  the  cost  in  pain. 
You  went  without  to  buy  the  clothes  upon  her : 
A  hat,  a  locket,  and  a  silver  chain. 
O  mother  dear,  if  all  might  be  again, 
Only  from  last  October,  you  and  me ; 

0  mother  dear,  how  different  it  would  be. 

"We  were  so  happy  in  the  room  together, 
Singing  at  'Binger-Bopper,'  weren't  us,  just? 
And  going  a-hopping  in  the  summer  weather, 
And  all  the  hedges  covered  white  with  dust, 
And  blackberries,  and  that,  and  traveller's  trust. 

1  thought  her  wronged,  and  true,  and  sweet,  and  wise, 
The  devil  takes  sweet  shapes  when  he  tells  lies. 

"Mother,  my  dear,  will  you  forgive  your  son?" 
"  God  knows  I  do,  Jim,  I  forgive  you,  dear ; 
You  didn't  know,  and  couldn't,  what  you  done. 


54  THE   GOSPEL  OF   GOOD   WILL 

God  pity  all  poor  people  suffering  here, 
And  may  his  mercy  shine  upon  us  clear, 
And  may  we  have  His  Holy  Word  for  mark, 
To  lead  us  to  His  Kingdom  through  the  dark." 

Then  at  the  end  —  the  end  save  for  the  poor  mother's 
going  crazy  after  his  execution  —  comes  the  mother's 
great  soliloquy  and  prayer:  one  of  the  profoundest 
spiritual  passages  in  contemporary  literature. 

"  Red  helpless  little  things  will  come  to  birth, 

And  hear  the  whistles  going  down  the  line, 

And  grow  up  strong  and  go  about  the  earth, 

And  have  much  happier  times  than  yours  and  mine ; 

And  some  day  one  of  them  will  get  a  sign, 

And  talk  to  folk,  and  put  an  end  to  sin, 

And  then  God's  blessed  kingdom  will  begin. 

"  God  dropped  a  spark  down  into  everyone, 

And  if  we  find  and  fan  it  to  a  blaze 

It'll  spring  up  and  glow,  like  —  like  the  sun, 

And  light  the  wandering  out  of  stony  ways. 

God  warms  his  hands  at  man's  heart  when  he  prays, 

And  light  of  prayer  is  spreading  heart  to  heart; 

It'll  light  all  where  now  it  lights  a  part. 

"  And  God  who  gave  His  mercies  takes  His  mercies, 
And  God  who  gives  beginning  gives  the  end. 
I  dread  my  death ;  but  it's  the  end  of  curses, 
A  rest  for  broken  things  too  broke  to  mend. 


FALLING   SHORT   OF  GOOD   WILL  55 

O  Captain  Christ,  our  blessed  Lord  and  Friend, 
We  are  two  wandered  sinners  in  the  mire, 
Burn  our  dead  hearts  with  love  out  of  Thy  fire. 

"  And  when  thy  death  comes,  Master,  let  us  bear  it 

As  of  Thy  will,  however  hard  to  go ; 

Thy  cross  is  infinite  for  us  to  share  it, 

Thy  help  is  infinite  for  us  to  know ; 

And  when  the  long  trumpets  of  the  Judgment  blow 

May  our  poor  souls  be  glad  and  meet  agen, 

And  rest  in  Thee.    Say 'Amen,' Jim."    "Amen." 

From  this  widowed  mother's  prayer  one  rises  with  a 
solemn  sense  of  the  cruel  cost  of  sin;  and  pity  for  the 
poor  innocent  sufferer  whose  love  compels  her  to  pay 
for  short-lived  selfish  pleasure  in  lifelong  loving  pain; 
bearing,  as  she  says,  her  share  of  Christ's  infinite  cross. 

Not  every  preacher  can  be  a  literary  artist;  but  we 
all  can  use  the  artist's  work  to  show  that  pain  of  inno- 
cent and  guilty  alike  is  ever  the  ugly  other  side  of 
the  smooth  and  glossy  surface  of  sin.  To  do  that  is  to 
make  men  hate  it,  and  lead  them  to  repent. 

With  the  passing  of  the  arbitrary  God,  laying  down 
rules  and  regulations  for  his  own  delectation;  doing 
each  particular  act  as  a  special  favor  or  disfavor  to  the 
individual  immediately  concerned,  sin  in  the  old  sense, 
as  a  highly  imprudent  defiance  of  such  a  God,  is  pass- 


56  THE  GOSPEL  OF  GOOD  WILL 

ing  too.  Indeed,  if  that  be  sin,  the  sinner  on  such 
terms  appeals  to  us  as  rather  admirable  and  heroic. 
There  is  enough  of  the  old  Adam  in  most  red-blooded 
males  between  the  ages  of  fifteen  and  forty  to  shake 
the  fist  of  defiance  in  the  face  of  such  a  God,  and  leave 
his  rules  and  regulations  to  be  observed  by  such  "plas- 
ter saints"  as  regard  "safety  first"  as  the  supreme 
spiritual  grace.  The  Gospel  of  Good  Will,  however, 
gives  us  an  altogether  different  view  of  sin ;  showing  it 
not  as  a  dash  of  bravado  which  evokes  our  admiration ; 
but  as  a  taint  of  meanness  which  we  pity  and  condemn. 
Bacteria  and  the  animals  seek  their  meat  from  God 
wherever  they  can  find  it:  and  if  the  body  of  an  ani- 
mal, or  the  body  of  a  man,  offers  the  most  attractive 
and  available  food,  they  take  it  without  scruple  or 
hesitation;  without  malice  and  without  remorse. 
They  seek  their  own  good;  and  fail  to  seek  the  good 
of  their  victims.  Yet  their  action,  evil  as  it  is  from 
the  point  of  view  of  their  victim,  is  not  sin.  In  its 
ethical  aspect  sin  is  the  choice  of  a  lesser  in  preference 
to  a  greater  good;  and  the  penalty  is  the  loss  of  that 
greater  specific  good  which  the  preferred  lesser  good 
displaces.  In  its  religious  aspect  sin  is  the  choice  of 
some  little  specific  good  in  preference  to  the  greatest 
good  of  all  —  fellowship  in  Good  Will  with  the  Father, 


FALLING  SHORT  OF  GOOD  WILL          57 

with  Christ,  and  with  Christian  men  and  women :  and 
the  religious  penalty  for  sin  is  the  loss  of  that  fellow- 
ship. To  fail  at  one  point  in  religion  is  to  fail  altogether. 
Good  Will  is  one  and  all-inclusive :  and  deliberately  to 
fall  short  of  it  at  one  point  is  to  fall  short  of  it  altogether. 
We  cannot  take  part  of  it  and  leave  part  of  it,  as  a 
superficial  ethics  permits  us  to  do.  Like  an  egg,  re- 
ligious character  and  relationship  is  either  wholly  good 
or  wholly  bad.  It  cannot  be  part  good  and  part  bad. 
A  single  cherished  sin  shuts  one  completely  out  of  real 
fellowship  with  God,  and  Christ,  and  Christian  men. 
A  person,  and  a  relation  to  a  person,  can't  be  split. 
We  are  either  wholly  for  or  wholly  against  Good  Will. 
That  is  why  religion  is  infinitely  more  searching  and 
exacting  than  ethics.  Customs,  laws,  public  opinion 
can  be  divided,  and  the  man  who  lives  by  these  may 
be  part  good  and  part  bad :  generous  and  a  drunkard, 
genial  and  a  libertine,  truthful  and  a  brute.  Good  Will 
claims  everything  or  nothing.  The  various  ethical 
losses  and  the  one  unescapable  religious  loss  will  become 
clearer  as  we  consider  specific  sins. 

Men  fall  into  intemperance  partly  through  physical 
craving  for  exhilaration ;  partly  through  mental  uneasi- 
ness and  a  desire  to  throw  off  care  and  anxiety ;  mainly 
through  an  impulse  of  good  fellowship  and  conviviality 


58  THE   GOSPEL   OF   GOOD   WILL 

—  a  desire  to  share  physical  exhilaration  and  mental 
relaxation  in  congenial  company.  All  these  things  are 
so  far  good:  they  are  the  premiums  intemperance 
carries  with  it.  If  these  things  stood  alone,  and  no 
losses  were  charged  on  the  opposite  page  of  the  ledger, 
intemperance  would  be  not  sin  but  an  unmixed  good ; 
and  every  man  who  didn't  drink  and  gorge  would  be  a 
sinner  and  a  fool. 

Over  against  these  little  goods  gained,  however, 
stand  greater  goods  lost :  —  self-control,  employment, 
reputation,  health,  livelihood  for  himself  and  his  family. 
These  greater  goods  displaced  measure  the  folly,  the 
iniquity,  the  meanness  of  the  sin  of  intemperance. 
The  preacher's  problem  is  to  appreciate  these  little 
goods  for  which  the  glutton  gorges,  the  drunkard  drinks, 
and  the  drug  victim  takes  his  "one  more  shot"; 
through  such  generous  and  fair  appreciation  to  come  into 
sympathetic  relations  with  the  intemperate  man;  and 
then  to  make  him  feel  how  insignificant  they  all  are  in 
comparison  to  the  steady  nerves,  the  strong  will,  the 
regular  business,  the  happy  family,  the  comfortable 
home  he  is  allowing  them  to  displace.  If  the  intem- 
perate man  can  be  made  to  see  that,  he  will  see  that 
intemperance  is  not  the  brave,  smart,  genial,  generous 
thing  it  seems  under  the  bright  lights  of  the  club  or  bar- 


FALLING   SHORT   OF   GOOD   WILL  59 

room;  but  the  cowardly,  stupid,  weak,  mean  thing 
that  it  is.  When  he  sees  that  and  is  thoroughly  ashamed 
of  himself,  he  is  in  a  mood  to  believe  you  when  you  tell 
him  that  no  man  who  does  such  a  mean  and  cruel  thing 
can  have  part  or  lot  in  God's  Good  Will  which  is  work- 
ing in  the  world  to  make  it  kind,  happy  and  whole- 
some :  no  comradeship  with  Christ  who  came  to  make 
that  Good  Will  plain  and  winsome :  no  fellowship  with 
the  great  and  goodly  company  of  men  and  women 
who  have  Good  Will  as  the  spirit  of  their  lives.  Not 
until,  on  the  basis  of  a  hearty  appreciation  of  the  little 
good  for  the  sake  of  which  he  drinks  or  overeats,  or 
takes  drugs,  we  have  made  him  feel  the  misery  and 
meanness  of  the  losses  he  inflicts  on  himself  and  others : 
—  not  until  then  have  we  preached  the  whole  of  the 
sane  and  searching  Gospel  of  Jesus  Christ  to  that  in- 
temperate man. 

Licentiousness  has  its  roots  in  passions  implanted  in 
man  for  good.  Nature  does  not  allow  any  generation 
to  be  more  than  one  remove  from  their  normal  inten- 
sity. Keen  pleasures,  physical,  aesthetic  and  social, 
are  attached  as  premiums  to  the  fulfilment  of  their 
functions.  What  wonder  that  youth  seizes  eagerly 
and  recklessly  on  these  offer ed  goods.  Unless  one  enters 
sympathetically  into  the  force  and  worth  of  all  the  good 


60  THE   GOSPEL  OF   GOOD   WILL 

there  is  in  sensuous  pleasure,  he  will  not  be  in  a  posi- 
tion to  preach  to  young  men  the  fearful  losses  that  are 
charged  up  against  the  libertine.  For  the  penalties 
are  tremendous.  By  long,  slow,  sacrificial  struggle, 
by  fearful  social  ostracism  inflicted  on  women  who  are 
either  the  authors  or  the  victims  of  sexual  sin,  the  race 
has  built  up  the  pure  home;  its  most  beneficent  and 
beautiful  institution.  To  the  extent  of  his  ability 
the  libertine  tears  that  laboriously  reared  structure 
down,  and  deprives  some  unfortunate  woman,  or  a 
whole  class  of  such  women,  of  their  birthright  of  love, 
loyalty,  respect  and  protection  in  a  pure  and  happy 
home.  Whoever  for  a  little  passing  pleasure  can  ruin 
human  happiness ;  break  the  hearts  of  grieving  parents ; 
doom  to  desolation  and  probable  disease  innocent  and 
guilty  alike,  is  mean  and  contemptible.  He  is  un- 
doing civilization's  most  costly  and  beneficent  work. 
Reared  himself  in  a  pure  home ;  desiring  it  for  his  own 
sisters  and  daughters;  he  is  seeking  to  make  a  mean 
exception  in  his  own  favor  to  the  way  he  desires  other 
men  to  treat  them.  Such  conduct,  however  strongly 
urged  to  it  by  forces  which  Nature  has  found  essential 
to  the  perpetuation  of  the  race,  marks  a  man  as 
altogether  contrary  to  God's  Good  Will;  incompatible 
with  the  character  of  Christ;  antithetic  to  that  Spirit 


FALLING  SHORT  OF  GOOD  WILL          01 

of  Good  Will  which  binds  all  pure,  brave  men  and  women 
together  in  Christian  fellowship. 

The  preacher  has  not  preached  the  Gospel  to  good 
purpose  unless  his  community  as  a  whole,  and  every 
individual  in  it,  has  been  brought  to  look  on  licentious- 
ness, not  indeed  without  intelligent  sympathy  for  the 
mighty  forces  that  drive  and  drag  men  and  women 
into  it,  but  with  such  a  sense  of  the  essential  meanness 
of  any  man  or  woman  who  condescends  to  buy  per- 
sonal pleasure  at  such  a  fearful  price  in  social  deteriora- 
tion and  human  degradation,  as  shall  make  them  treat 
it,  whether  in  others  or  in  themselves  or  in  their  chil- 
dren, as  a  loathsome,  cruel,  dastardly  disgrace. 

Gambling  is  another  of  the  Devil's  sweet-shaped  lies. 
It  comes  disguised  as  a  form  of  Good  Will.  We  love 
excitement,  uncertainty,  risk:  and  a  few  dimes  or  dol- 
lars add  these  elements  to  what  would  otherwise  be  a 
dull  and  tame  affair.  When  both  parties  can  afford 
to  lose,  a  little  bet  adds  zest  to  the  contest  or  game. 
To  refuse  seems  churlish  and  timid ;  to  make  the  wager 
seems  generous  and  brave. 

Yet  there  is  a  fallacy  in  this  phrase  "can  afford  to 
lose."  Either  the  loss  makes  a  difference  or  it  doesn't. 
If  it  does,  it  involves  an  unsocial  attitude.  If  it  doesn't, 
then  it  is  useless ;  and  might  as  well  be  omitted. 


62  THE   GOSPEL   OF   GOOD   WILL 

The  tendency  and  example  of  gambling  even  on  a 
small  scale,  for  social  good-fellowship,  lends  encourage- 
ment to  gambling  on  a  more  serious  scale;  involving 
grievous  hardship  to  the  loser,  and  loss  of  reliance  for 
gains  on  productive  industry  to  both  winner  and  loser. 
The  man  of  Good  Will,  if  he  thinks  his  way  through  to 
the  consequences  and  influences  that  flow  from  gambling, 
will  refuse  to  have  anything  to  do  with  it.  If  much  is 
evil,  as  all  admit,  the  tendency  and  influence  of  even  a 
little  cannot  be  good. 

Speculation  in  its  unadulterated  form  is  gambling, 
and  begets  the  gambler's  anti-social  attitude.  The 
direction  of  capital  into  sound  and  useful  channels  of 
production  is  honest  and  honorable,  an  expression  of 
the  capitalist's  Good  Will.  But  that  involves  expert 
knowledge,  which  in  turn  involves  keen  mental  labor. 
The  shrewd  investor  is,  whether  intentionally  or  not, 
a  public  benefactor.  He  puts  capital  at  the  disposal  of 
enterprises  that  effectively  serve  real  needs;  and  with- 
holds capital  from  those  that  are  doomed  to  fail.  So 
long  as  the  present  economic  order  lasts  the  capitalist 
has  as  important  a  function  as  the  laborer. 

When,  however,  one  merely  "takes  a  flier";  bets  on 
the  strength  of  rumor,  tip,  or  guesswork  that  some- 
thing of  whose  management,  resources,  prospects,  and 


FALLING   SHORT   OF   GOOD   WILL  63 

processes  he  knows  next  to  nothing  will  go  up  or  down ; 
he  is  contributing  nothing.  If  in  the  long  run  he  gains 
(which  is  very  unlikely),  he  is  getting  something  out 
of  society  he  doesn't  deserve  and  hasn't  earned.  If 
in  the  long  run  he  loses  (as  in  ninety-nine  cases  out  of  a 
hundred  he  will),  he  gets  precisely  what  he  deserves. 
Worse,  however,  than  the  money  lost  is  the  loss  of 
reliance  on  regular  industry ;  the  impatience  with  slow, 
sure  earnings;  the  precarious  financial  status  of  his 
family ;  the  irresponsible,  unsocial,  and  ultimately  anti- 
social attitude  toward  the  world,  which  the  habit  of 
speculation  entails.  We  cannot  rely  for  strenuous 
social  service,  and  costly  sacrifice  of  time  and  money, 
on  any  man  who  is  intent  on  getting  rich  quick  by  the 
rise  and  fall  of  securities  to  the  management  and  study 
of  which  he  brings  no  intimate  knowledge.  Just  in 
proportion  as  the  speculative  habit  grows,  will  in- 
dustry, domestic  security,  and  social  service  dwindle 
and  decline. 

Laziness  is  native  to  us  all.  Leisure,  loafing,  is  delight- 
ful ;  and  the  love  of  it  nature  has  put  into  us  abundantly 
as  a  means  of  self-preservation.  The  good-natured, 
care-free  loafer  appeals  to  us.  As  compared  to  the 
fuming,  fretting  busybody,  who  is  forever  on  the  rack 
of  exertion,  there  is  a  good  deal  to  be  said  for  him ;  as 


64  THE   GOSPEL   OF   GOOD   WILL 

Stevenson  has  shown  in  his  "  Apology  for  Idlers."  Yet 
on  the  other  side  of  the  account  we  find  poverty;  if 
the  man  have  no  inherited  or  otherwise  gratuitous 
wealth ;  and  even  if  he  has,  we  find  the  shirking  of 
services  which  his  fellows  and  society  need.  With  so 
much  that  needs  to  be  done  in  the  home,  the  school, 
the  state,  charity,  reform,  science,  art,  literature,  the 
man  or  woman  who  retires  at  night  with  nothing  use- 
ful accomplished  is  a  pauper  and  a  parasite :  unworthy 
to  be  called  a  servant  and  son  of  Good  Will ;  unworthy 
of  the  name  of  Christian ;  unworthy  of  the  fellowship 
of  earnest  and  arduous  Christian  men  and  women. 
Not  until  all  the  idlers,  rich  or  poor,  are  heartily 
ashamed  of  themselves,  and  everybody  in  the  com- 
munity looks  on  the  sin  of  idleness  as  disgraceful,  has 
the  Gospel  been  rightly  preached. 

Frivolity  has  its  roots  in  a  hereditary  love  of  excite- 
ment. Our  ancestors  lived  on  the  perilous  edge  of 
life;  were  compelled  to  be  alert  to  protect  themselves 
against  wild  beasts  and  hostile  tribes,  to  find  game  for 
food,  and  pasture  for  their  flocks  and  herds.  Cards 
and  dancing,  the  "movies"  and  the  theater,  the  trolley 
and  the  automobile,  place  artificial  excitement  and  un- 
necessary motion  within  the  reach  of  us  all.  And 
many  there  be,  especially  of  women,  who  go  in  at  these 


FALLING  SHORT  OF  GOOD  WILL          65 

open  doors  of  opportunity  for  frivolous  dissipation. 
There  is  good  in  it  all.  It  is  better  to  be  excited  than 
to  be  depressed;  it  is  better  to  be  on  the  move  than 
to  sit  still  and  mope.  But  when  there  is  so  much  suffer- 
ing to  be  relieved;  so  much  knowledge  to  be  acquired 
and  diffused;  so  much  wrong  to  be  righted;  so  much 
sympathy  needed;  it  is  a  burning  shame  that  at  the 
end  of  the  day,  the  week,  the  month,  the  season,  any 
man  or  any  woman  should  have  to  show  as  good  ac- 
complished only  so  many  luncheons  and  dinners  eaten; 
so  many  cards  shuffled;  so  many  miles  travelled;  so 
many  plays  or  pictures  seen;  so  many  dances  and 
parties  attended.  As  incidental  diversions;  as  dessert 
after  the  roast  beef  of  usefulness  and  the  salad  of  help- 
fulness, these  amusements  have  their  important  place. 
It  is  a  great  mistake  to  overlook  the  good  they  each  and 
all  contain,  or  to  condemn  or  prohibit  specific  amuse- 
ments. But  to  give  up  to  them  the  whole  or  any  con- 
siderable proportion  of  one's  life,  is  to  withdraw  from 
the  ranks  of  the  useful  and  serviceable ;  to  fall  short  of 
Good  Will;  to  lose  touch  with  Christ;  and  to  miss 
altogether  the  fellowship  in  service  which  binds  true 
Christians  together  in  the  spirit  of  active  Good  Will. 
The  Gospel  has  not  been  preached  as  it  should  be  until 
every  one  within  hearing  has  been  made  thoroughly  and 


66  THE  GOSPEL  OF  GOOD  WILL 

heartily  ashamed  of  indulging  for  themselves  or  tolerat- 
ing for  their  children  a  life  of  meaningless  excitement, 
with  its  inevitable  cost  and  counterpart  of  strength  and 
steadiness  undeveloped,  duties  undone,  services  shirked, 
and  opportunities  thrown  away. 

Unkindness  saves  a  great  deal  of  effort.  It  is  easier 
to  snap  and  snarl;  to  upbraid  and  find  fault;  to  be 
cross  and  hateful ;  than  to  take  the  trouble  to  appreciate 
the  feelings  of  others  and  control  speech  and  conduct 
with  a  view  to  causing  as  little  pain  and  as  much  pleas- 
ure as  a  just  consideration  of  mutual  claims  permits. 
Wherever  a  sad  heart  can  be  made  happy  or  a  wrong 
will  set  right,  there  is  an  open  door  into  Good  Will: 
and  whoever,  from  unimaginative  laziness  and  hard- 
heartedness  refuses  to  enter  it,  or  turns  his  back  upon 
it,  shuts  himself  out  from  that  kindliness  which  is  the 
heart  of  God,  the  soul  of  Christ,  and  the  Spirit  in  which 
all  true  Christians  live  and  love. 

Jealousy,  envy,  fill  a  little  soul  full  of  its  own  im- 
portance. If  it  could  have  this  premium  of  being 
puffed  up,  and  pay  no  corresponding  penalty,  then 
these  qualities  would  be  virtues;  petty  virtues  to  be 
sure,  but  not  the  pitiful  sins  they  are.  The  penalty  is 
inevitable:  a  soul  full  of  self  has  no  room  for  eager 
interest  in  other  things  and  generous  devotion  to  other 


FALLING  SHORT  OF  GOOD  WILL          67 

persons ;  no  chance  to  share  the  Good  Will  which  ranks 
others  at  least  on  an  equality  with  ourselves.  So  long 
as  we  are  shut  in  with  our  own  envy  and  jealousy,  we 
are  automatically  and  hermetically  excluded  from  the 
Christian  fellowship. 

Censoriousness,  likewise,  is  a  cheap  and  easy  device 
for  securing  the  sense  of  self-exaltation.  To  call  another 
man  stingy,  unless  it  be  in  sorrow  and  with  a  view  to  his 
reformation,  implies  that  I  am  generous  by  contrast. 
To  point  out  with  glee  the  impurity  of  another  gives 
me  a  false  sense  of  the  purity  of  my  own  contrasted 
heart.  When  I  denounce  the  hypocrite,  except  in  pity 
and  desire  for  his  conversion,  I  cannot  help  drawing, 
and  hoping  others  will  draw,  the  inference  that  I  by 
contrast  am  sincere.  But  to  pay  for  these  specious 
emotional  gains,  I  lose  the  sympathy  I  ought  to  feel  for 
others,  as  well  as  the  modest  sense  of  my  own  short- 
comings. In  judging  others  I  condemn  myself  as  guilty 
of  having  a  soul  just  big  enough  to  take  in  the  evil,  but 
not  big  enough  to  take  in  the  good,  in  other  men  and 
women.  Into  such  a  soul  the  great-hearted  Father, 
the  compassionate  Christ,  the  Spirit  of  Good  Will  by 
no  possibility  can  come  and  take  up  their  abode. 

Conceit  and  pride  are  closely  akin  to  censoriousness. 
They  swell  out  one's  vanity ;  and  give  the  semblance  of 


68  THE  GOSPEL  OF  GOOD  WILL 

greatness  to  the  soul  that  harbors  them.  But  the  proud 
heart  is  so  hollow ;  the  conceited  soul  is  so  empty ;  that 
it  is  a  fearful  price  one  has  to  pay  for  indulging  in  these 
expensive  spiritual  sedatives.  Not  to  the  proud  and 
conceited;  but  to  the  meek  and  the  poor  in  spirit  is 
assured  the  blessedness  of  Christian  fellowship. 

Cowardice  is  good  so  far  as  it  saves  one's  skin ;  but 
it  becomes  detestable  when  it  costs  the  repudiation  of 
one's  convictions ;  the  failure  to  stand  up  for  unpopular 
reforms;  the  refusal  to  risk  life  for  country.  The 
shame  that  is  heaped  upon  the  coward  is  the  measure 
of  the  worth  of  the  interests  he  allows  to  go  unprotected 
and  unserved  in  order  to  save  and  protect  himself. 
Obviously  no  coward  can  share  Good  Will  with  the  Christ 
who  suffered  crucifixion  rather  than  fail  to  bear  witness 
to  the  truth  the  Father  gave  him  to  see  and  serve. 

Treachery  is  even  worse  than  cowardice ;  for  cowardice 
is  merely  saving  oneself  from  general  risks  and  dangers. 
Treachery  is  the  betrayal  of  some  special  cause  with 
which  we  are  intimately  identified ;  the  benefits  and 
fellowship  of  which  we  have  enjoyed ;  and  for  the  loyal 
support  of  which  we  have  given  some  explicit  or  tacit 
pledge.  To  betray  such  a  cause,  or  the  person  who 
represents  it,  as  Judas  did  Jesus  for  thirty  pieces  of 
silver,  is  almost  the  lowest  depth  of  meanness  into  which 


FALLING  SHORT  OF  GOOD  WILL          69 

sin  can  bring  a  man.  To  be  sure  even  here  some  good 
is  sought  and  gained :  the  thirty  silver  pieces  have 
their  normal  purchasing  power  even  in  the  hands  of  the 
traitor :  but  all  that  they  can  buy  is  so  insignificant  in 
comparison  with  the  honor  lost  by  treachery,  that  their 
value  in  comparison  is  negligible ;  and  treachery  stands 
out  as  almost  wholly  and  inexcusably  mean.  No  traitor 
can  have  a  place  in  the  Kingdom  of  which  the  Father's 
Good  Will  is  the  rule ;  Christ's  sacrifice  the  supreme 
inspiration ;  and  the  spirit  of  loyalty  and  mutual  devo- 
tion the  very  breath  of  life. 

The  good  the  traitor  seeks ;  his  office,  or  position,  or 
bribe  money,  however  insignificant  and  contemptible, 
is  at  least  substantial.  The  hypocrite  gets  nothing  but 
the  favorable  opinion  of  those  whom  he  deceives;  and 
even  that  favorable  opinion  is  given  not  to  what  he  is, 
but  to  what  he  pretends  to  be.  The  hypocrite  parts 
company  with  all  reality. 

Hypocrites  are  of  two  kinds :  those  who  pretend  to 
be  better  than  they  are;  who  were  the  more  common 
in  New  Testament  times ;  and  those  who  pretend  to  be 
worse  than  they  are;  who  are  the  more  common, 
especially  among  young  people,  at  the  present  day. 
Whatever  the  form,  the  essence  of  hypocrisy  is  the  same 
—  an  entire  absence  of  genuineness  —  the  posing  as 


70  THE   GOSPEL  OF   GOOD   WILL 

something  one  is  not.  Obviously  Good  Will,  as  it  lives 
in  the  Father,  as  it  flashes  out  in  Christ's  scorn  of  the 
Scribes  and  Pharisees,  as  it  dwells  in  the  hearts  of  all 
genuine  Christian  men  and  women,  is  infinitely  removed 
from  the  posing  of  the  hypocrite.  Meanness,  smallness, 
the  selling  of  the  birthright  for  a  mess  of  pottage,  — 
which  is  the  essence  of  all  sin,  —  can  go  no  farther  down 
than  this ;  that  one  ceases  really  to  be  himself  and  be- 
comes merely  an  impression  —  false  at  that  —  imposed 
on  the  minds  of  others. 

Lying,  too,  has  the  double  aspect  common  to  all  sin. 
In  its  meaner  forms  it  is  a  device  for  shirking  responsi- 
bility, escaping  criticism,  defrauding  customer  or  credi- 
tor, and  springs  from  the  innocent  instinct  of  social 
self-preservation.  In  its  higher  forms,  as  used  by  cul- 
tivated people,  it  is  a  generous  desire  to  be  more  enter- 
taining than  a  plain  statement  of  the  case  will  warrant ; 
to  deck  out  a  situation  in  colors  contributed  by  the 
narrator's  "happy  artistry."  Many  of  the  most  charm- 
ing women  in  the  world,  some  of  the  world's  most 
famous  men,  especially  those  of  the  military  and  sports- 
man types,  are  half-unconsciously  addicted  to  lying  as 
the  most  natural  way  of  making  themselves  and  their 
experiences  interesting. 

On  the  other  hand,  lying  of  all  kinds  tends  to  break 


FALLING  SHORT  OF  GOOD  WILL          71 

down  confidence  between  man  and  man ;  and,  by  crying 
"wolf"  when  there  is  no  wolf,  to  invite  disaster  when 
the  real  wolf  appears.  The  liar  refuses  to  dwell  in  the 
same  world  of  mutual  understanding  with  his  fellows; 
he  shuts  them  out-  of  his  little  life,  and  in  so  doing  shuts 
himself  out  of  theirs.  People  learn  to  distrust  him, 
and  in  distrusting  him  to  distrust  human  nature.  Lying 
is  intellectual  highway  robbery;  and  its  penalty  is 
mental  solitary  confinement. 

Stealing  has  the  same  two  aspects  that  are  the  com- 
mon marks  of  sin.  A  man  wants  something  which 
belongs  to  another.  He  wants  it  very  badly.  He  is 
poor,  and  the  man  who  has  it  is  so  rich  that  he  would 
never  miss  it.  Or  the  chance  to  steal  is  so  general  and 
indirect  that  the  man  from  whom  he  steals  will  not 
even  know  that  anything  has  been  taken  from  him. 
This  is  the  case  in  the  more  prevalent  forms  of  stealing 
to-day;  the  stealing  that  is  carried  on  by  respectable 
citizens  and  honored  church  members  in  every  branch 
of  industry,  commerce,  and  politics.  I  want  to  support 
my  family  a  little  better,  or  give  my  son  a  more  expen- 
sive education,  or  maintain  my  daughter  in  a  wealthy 
social  circle.  I  cannot  do  these  things  if  I  confine  my- 
self to  producing  goods  or  rendering  services  which  I 
offer  to  the  world  at  their  current  market  value.  But  I 


72  THE   GOSPEL  OF   GOOD   WILL 

can  do  these  things  very  easily  if  I  organize  a  corpora- 
tion and  take,  as  unfortunately  the  laws  of  certain  states 
allow  me  to  take,  a  large  block  of  the  stock  for  com- 
paratively worthless  property  or  insignificant  services. 
I  can  do  these  things  if,  as  director  of  a  railroad,  I  use 
my  power  as  the  representative  of  the  stockholders  and 
the  trustee  of  the  public  to  get  portions  of  the  road 
built  by  a  construction  company  in  which  I  have  an 
interest;  and  then,  as  a  member  of  the  construction 
company,  sell  to  the  railroad  in  which  I  am  a  director 
the  constructed  road  at  several  thousand  dollars  a  mile 
more  than  its  construction  cost.  I  can  do  these  things 
for  my  wife  and  children  if,  holding  a  majority  of  stock 
in  a  corporation,  I  sell  it  to  parties  who  will  use  the 
controlling  interest  thus  acquired,  to  make  the  stock  of 
the  minority  stockholders  comparatively  worthless.  I 
can  do  these  things  if,  as  owner  of  a  controlling  interest, 
I  use  the  power  it  gives  me  to  vote  exorbitant  salaries 
to  myself  and  my  friends,  or  to  withhold  dividends  and 
pile  up  a  surplus  until  the  poorer  stockholders  are  com- 
pelled to  sell  for  less  than  it  would  be  worth  if  the  busi- 
ness were  fairly  managed. 

I  can  do  these  things  if  I  buy  things  which  I  am  un- 
able to  pay  for ;  if  I  use  my  political  influence  and  posi- 
tion to  secure  franchises,  favors,  exemptions,  which  will 


FALLING   SHORT   OF   GOOD   WILL  73 

allow  me  to  make  profit  out  of  the  public  loss.  These 
and  countless  similar  forms  of  stealing  all  have  at  their 
core  the  innocent  and  laudable  desire  to  make  money, 
gain  power,  secure  position  for  myself,  my  family,  and 
my  friends.  All  that  is  praiseworthy.  The  presence 
of  this  ambition  is  an  indication  of  many  personal, 
domestic,  and  social  virtues.  We  cannot  withhold  a 
certain  admiration  and  affection  from  thieves  of  this 
type,  whom  we  meet  in  business,  in  society,  at  the  club, 
and  even  at  church. 

On  the  other  hand,  when  we  realize  how  ruthlessly 
they  strip  the  hard-working  man  of  the  savings  of  a 
lifetime ;  how  they  impoverish  the  widow  and  orphan ; 
how  every  honest  workingman  in  the  community  has  to 
work  harder  and  live  poorer  to  make  up  for  his  share 
of  the  general  loss  that  corresponds  to  their  dishonest 
gains,  we  despise  the  methods  by  which  these  men  have 
gained  their  wealth. 

Murder  is  a  widely  prevalent  form  of  sin  to-day. 
In  saying  this,  I  do  not  refer  to  the  rapidly  increasing 
number  of  cases  of  violence  and  bloodshed.  Alarming 
as  that  is,  it  is  but  an  insignificant  fraction  of  the  total 
murder  that  goes  on  in  our  modern  Christian  civiliza- 
tion. As  Professor  Ross  has  pointed  out  in  his  "Sin 
and  Society,"  the  modern  assassin  "wears  immaculate 


74  THE   GOSPEL   OF   GOOD   WILL 

linen,  carries  a  silk  hat  and  a  lighted  cigar,  sins  with  a 
calm  countenance  and  a  serene  soul,  leagues  or  months 
from  the  evil  he  causes.  Upon  his  gentlemanly  presence 
the  eventual  blood  and  tears  do  not  intrude  themselves. 
This  is  why  good,  kindly  men  let  the  wheels  of  com- 
merce and  of  industry  redden  and  redden,  rather  than 
pare  or  lose  their  dividends.  This  is  why  our  railroads 
yearly  injure  one  employee  in  twenty-six,  and  we  look 
in  vain  for  that  promised  '  day  of  the  Lord '  that  '  will 
make  a  man  more  precious  than  fine  gold.'  Our  iniquity 
is  wireless,  and  we  know  not  whose  withers  are  wrung 
by  it.  The  purveyor  of  spurious  life-preservers  need 
not  be  a  Cain.  The  owner  of  rotten  tenement  houses, 
whose  'pull'  enables  him  to  ignore  the  orders  of  the 
health  department,  foredooms  babies,  it  is  true,  but  for 
all  that  he  is  no  Herod.  The  mob  lynches  the  red- 
handed  slayer,  when  it  ought  to  keep  a  gallows  Haman- 
high  for  the  venal  mine-inspector,  the  seller  of  infected 
milk,  the  maintainer  of  a  fire- trap  theatre." 

The  murderers  we  meet  in  every  walk  of  life  to-day, 
members  of  every  club  or  church  we  join,  present  in 
evening  dress  at  almost  every  dinner  or  party,  like  the 
thieves  previously  considered,  are  simply  the  men  who 
want  big  dividends  with  which  to  maintain  their  families 
in  luxury,  and  do  not  inquire  too  curiously  how  many 


FALLING   SHORT  OF  GOOD   WILL  75 

human  lives  they  needlessly  shorten  to  increase  those 
dividends,  or  how  many  human  heads  they  cut  off  with 
their  coupons. 

Statistics  of  a  year's  accidents  to  workingmen  in 
Allegheny  County,  in  which  Pittsburg  is  located,  pub- 
lished in  the  Nation  of  March  18,  1909,  show  that 
526  men  were  killed  in  that  county  by  industrial  acci- 
dents in  the  twelve  months  from  July  i,  1906,  to  June 
30,  1907.  In  addition  2000  were  seriously  injured,  of 
whom  500  were  so  crippled  as  to  be  discharged  from 
the  hospitals  permanent  wrecks.  While  the  speed  and 
pressure  of  the  work  render  a  large  number  of  these  acci- 
dents unavoidable,  in  a  group  of  cases  investigated  35 
per  cent  were  attributable  to  the  employers'  negligence ; 
in  other  words,  the  employers  preferred  to  commit  that 
amount  of  murder  rather  than  pay  the  slight  cost  of 
life-saving  precautions  and  devices. 

In  Bangor,  Maine,  a  family  moved  into  a  tenement 
which  had  previously  been  occupied  by  a  patient  sick 
with  tuberculosis.  The  landlord  neither  informed  th,e 
incoming  tenant  of  the  fact,  nor  had  the  house  disin- 
fected. The  child  of  the  family  died  of  tuberculosis  in 
consequence.  When  asked  why  he  did  not  have  the 
house  disinfected,  the  landlord  excused  himself  on  the 
ground  that  he  could  not  afford  the  ten  dollars,  more  or 


76  THE  GOSPEL  OF  GOOD  WILL 

less,  which  it  would  cost.  Murder  for  ten  dollars  is  a 
depth  of  depravity  to  which  most  bandits  would  scorn 
to  condescend. 

The  rookery  landlord  and  the  jerry-builder,  the  adul- 
terator and  the  maker  and  vendor  of  deleterious  patent 
medicines,  the  quack  doctor  and  charlatan  "healer," 
the  purveyor  of  polluted  water  and  infected  milk,  the 
man  who  fails  to  fence  dangerous  machinery  and  provide 
safety  couplers  for  his  cars,  the  owners  of  unsanitary 
tenements  and  fire-trap  theatres,  the  men  who  over- 
work children,  and  employ  women  on  conditions  fatal 
to  either  health  or  character,  —  these  murderers,  num- 
bered by  hundreds,  and  whose  victims  are  counted  by 
tens  of  thousands,  are  the  ones  who  do  the  wholesale 
human  slaughter  of  to-day.  There  are  a  hundred  times 
as  many  men  guilty  of  murder  through  commercial  com- 
plicity in  the  United  States  to-day  as  there  were  five 
hundred  years  ago,  when  the  bow  and  arrow  and  the 
tomahawk  were  the  weapons  employed.  In  so  far  as 
preventable  disease  and  calamity  exist  in  our  communi- 
ties, we  all  are  sharers  in  responsibility  for  the  murders 
their  permitted  continuance  entails. 

What  shall  we  do  about  it  ?  What  has  Good  Will  to 
say  ?  We  must  call  it  by  its  plain  hard  name  of  murder 
every  chance  we  get.  We  must  make  the  men  who  are 


FALLING   SHORT   OF   GOOD   WILL  77 

guilty  feel  themselves  to  be  the  murderers  they  are. 
We  must  make  their  practices  so  odious,  that  every 
decent  man  will  be  ashamed  to  have  a  hand  in  them. 

The  great  demand  of  the  hour  is  ethical  insight;  to 
point  out  in  precise  terms  the  meanness  and  cruelty  and 
misery-producing  power  of  specific  sins.  If  the  pro- 
moter of  dishonest  business  schemes  could  see  the  priva- 
tion in  country  homes,  where  the  hard  earnings  of  years 
of  toil  are  swept  away  by  the  floods  of  water  with  which 
he  has  diluted  the  stock  they  purchased  in  good  faith ; 
if  the  licentious  man  could  see  the  years  of  agony  and 
degradation,  released  at  last  by  squalid  and  ignominious 
death,  which  the  victims  of  his  passing  pleasure  must 
drag  out  in  consequence  of  what  he  and  men  like  him 
have  made  of  them;  if  the  inconsiderate  husband,  the 
merciless  employer,  the  glib  scandalmonger,  the  corrupt 
legislator,  the  reckless  speculator,  could  be  made  to  see 
just  what  their  conduct  means  in  want  and  woe  and 
lingering  pain  and  premature  death  to  their  innocent 
and  helpless  victims,  they  would  speedily  repent  and 
mend  their  ways. 

Sin  in  all  its  forms ;  the  sinner  in  all  his  disguises ;  is 
foolish,  mean,  contemptible ;  utterly  and  irreconcilably 
opposed  to  and  estranged  from  Good  Will,  Christ, 
and  the  Spirit  in  Christian  men.  To  make  that  fact  so 


78  THE   GOSPEL  OF   GOOD   WILL 

plain  that  the  wayfaring  man  cannot  fail  to  see  it,  and 
feel  it,  and  take  it  to  heart,  is  the  second  task  of  the 
preacher :  second  only  to  the  first  task  of  making  men 
see  and  believe  in  Christ's  great  expectation  of  entire 
Good  Will.  Good  Will  is  the  primary  fact;  for  until 
that  is  seen  and  felt  you  cannot  make  men  see  and  feel 
by  contrast  the  meanness  and  disgrace  of  falling  short 
of  it.  The  best  you  can  do  is  to  conjure  up  some  fright- 
ful image  of  punishment  in  the  hereafter.  That  fright- 
fulness  in  God  we  no  longer  fear;  any  more  than  we 
respect  it  in  men  who  adopt  it  as  a  military  policy. 
God  is  light  and  in  him  is  no  darkness  at  all.  His  Will 
is  altogether,  always,  and  toward  everybody  good. 
Christ  revealed  that  goodness;  Christian  men  and 
women  reproduce  it ;  and  the  really  dreadful  penalty  of 
sin,  in  addition  to  the  specific  goods  forfeited  by  it,  is 
the  unworthiness  of  fellowship  with  God,  with  Christ, 
and  with  Christian  men  which  cherished  sin  entails. 
To  make  that  fearful  loss,  that  dreadful  penalty  felt  as 
the  supreme  wretchedness  it  is;  and  so  drive  men  to 
escape  from  it  in  penitence,  confession,  and  conversion, 
is  the  second  task  of  the  preacher.  Not  the  cheap  and 
discredited  terror  of  problematical  vengeful  torment  in 
the  hereafter;  but  the  loss  of  fellowship  with  God  and 
Christ  and  all  who  have  the  Spirit  of  Good  Will  —  this 


FALLING   SHORT   OF   GOOD   WILL  79 

is  the  weapon  of  the  true  Christian  minister  against  the 
ever  present  hydra-headed  monster  sin.  To  wield  that 
weapon  effectively  is  doubtless  much  harder  than  to 
brandish  the  old  red  battle-axe  of  an  arbitrary  damna- 
tion ;  and  requires  of  the  minister  more  Christlike  gifts 
of  mind  and  heart.  Already  we  see  rising  among  us  a 
ministry  that  shall  be  able  to  make  men  loath,  hate  and 
repent  of  sin  because  they  see  and  feel  the  meanness 
and  hideousness  of  it  as  contrasted  with  Good  Will  to 
others  and  to  all  which  Christ  and  Christian  men  reveal, 
and  which  it  is  their  supreme  privilege  to  serve  and 
share. 


m 

RESTORATION  TO  GOOD  WILL:    REPENTANCE  AND 
FORGIVENESS 

"I  have  put  myself  on  trial  in  the  court  of  conscience  and  a 
verdict  has  been  rendered  of  'guilty'  —  guilty  of  having  lived 
for  many  years  of  my  life  indifferent  to  and  ignorant  of  what  was 
going  on  behind  these  walls.  I  want  to  see  for  myself  exactly 
what  your  life  is  like,  not  as  viewed  from  the  outside  looking  in, 
but  from  the  inside  looking  out.  For  somehow,  deep  down,  I 
have  the  feeling  that  after  I  have  really  lived  among  you,  marched 
in  your  lines,  shared  your  food,  gone  to  the  same  cells  at  night,  and 
in  the  morning  looked  out  at  the  pieces  of  God's  sunlight  through 
the  same  iron  bars  —  that  then,  and  not  until  then,  can  I  feel  the 
knowledge  which  will  break  down  the  barriers  between  my  soul 
and  the  souls  of  my  brothers."  THOMAS  MOTT  OSBORNE.  Within 
Prison  Walls,  pp.  16  and  18. 

MY  text  is  taken  from  the  speech  to  the  inmates  of 
the  New  York  State  Prison  at  Auburn  by  the  chairman 
of  the  Commission  on  Prison  Reform  appointed  by  the 
Governor,  who  was  about  to  serve  a  week's  imprison- 
ment with  them.  At  the  conclusion  of  the  speech  from 
which  the  text  is  taken  the  inmates  asked  about  him 

80 


RESTORATION  TO   GOOD   WILL  8l 

the  question  that  was  asked  about  Jesus,  "What  manner 
of  man  is  this?" 

Another  speech  made  by  Mr.  Osborne  September  25, 
1915,  in  reply  to  the  critics  of  his  administration  as 
Warden  of  Sing  Sing,  will  serve  as  our  morning  lesson. 
Whatever  we  may  think  about  this  or  that  method  he 
has  employed,  we  can't  fail  to  detect  in  this  speech  the 
true  Christian  ring  of  a  costly  Good  Will  for  the 
prisoners. 

"In  all  earnestness  I  say  to  you  that  Sing  Sing  could 
stand  my  death,  but  Sing  Sing  could  not  stand  my  re- 
moval. I  love  my  home  and  children  as  you  do.  They 
are  far  away  while  I  am  at  work  down  there  in  Sing 
Sing.  I'm  doing  my  bit.  Can  you  afford  to  let  me 
go  home?  (Loud  shouts  of  "No.")  It's  more  impor- 
tant to  you  and  to  the  State  than  to  me.  I  can  afford 
to  go  home  to  those  I  love  and  end  my  days  in  the  spot 
I  love.  But  the  State  cannot  afford  to  let  me  go  — 
yet. 

"I  don't  expect  to  stay  there  long;  I  don't  expect  to 
live  long.  A  man  can't  stand  it  —  can't  stand  the 
responsibility  of  control  over  the  destinies  of  so  many 
of  his  fellow-men,  for  I'm  Czar  of  Sing  Sing.  I  feel  the 
strain  and  I  want  to  go  home.  But  I  won't  go  home  until 
I  find  a  man  to  take  my  place  and  to  carry  on  the  work 


82  THE  GOSPEL  OF  GOOD  WILL 

I  have  tried  to  start.  I  am  proud  of  it,  but  the  real 
credit  belongs  to  the  boys  behind  the  bars,  for  no  one 
can  save  them ;  they  must  save  themselves. 

"Men  who  are  sent  to  Sing  Sing  are  no  longer  trying 
to  escape  the  reputation  of  having  been  in  Sing  Sing. 
They  advertise  the  fact.  A  young  man  the  other  day 
advertised  for  a  job,  and  in  the  advertisement  said  he 
had  just  come  from  Sing  Sing.  It's  my  job  to  find  out 
how  Sing  Sing  can  be  turned  from  a  curse  into  a  bless- 
ing, and  I  pray  your  help. 

"Now,  I  have  been  pictured  as  a  sentimentalist. 
That  is  not  true.  I  am  no  worshipper  of  sentiment, 
but  I  am  a  devotee  of  common  sense.  I  have  no  sym- 
pathy with  crime,  nor  have  I  any  sympathy  with  the 
criminal.  But  I  have  a  fellow-feeling.  I  repeat,  I  have 
no  sympathy  with  the  criminal,  and  no  soft-hearted 
man  has  any  business  dealing  with  crime  or  criminals. 

"I  have,  as  I  see  it,  just  two  duties  to  the  State. 
One  is  to  keep  my  charges  in  Sing  Sing,  and  the  other  is 
to  see  that  they  become  capable  and  desirous  of  leading 
useful  lives  when  they  get  out.  Under  the  old  system 
no  wonder  they  came  out  brutes.  Now,  do  you  want 
these  men,  who  are  leaving  Sing  Sing  at  the  rate  of 
fifteen  hundred  a  year,  to  go  out  vindictive,  ready  to  get 
their  revenge  for  the  hell  they  have  been  through;  or 


RESTORATION  TO   GOOD  WILL  83 

do  you  want  them  to  go  out  feeling  that  the  scale  has 
been  balanced;  that  they  have  paid  and  are  square 
with  the  world  and  not  ashamed  of  having  paid  ?  There 
is  no  choice.  A  man  who  feels  right  with  the  world  is  a 
better  citizen  than  the  man  who  wants  to  get  even. 
Life  and  property  are  safer. 

"You  have  all  heard  a  lot  about  escapes  from  Sing 
Sing.  I'll  tell  you  the  truth.  Since  December  there 
have  been  three  escapes.  That's  less  than  there  ever 
was  before  in  that  time.  Why,  people  talk  about 
escapes  from  Sing  Sing  as  if  it  were  a  new  invention. 
They  have  always  been  escaping  from  Sing  Sing. 

"Let  me  correct  another  impression.  There  is  no 
traffic  in  'dope'  at  Sing  Sing.  There  are  plenty  of 
ways  to  get  it;  there  always  were  plenty  of  ways  to 
get  it  in  Sing  Sing.  Why  don't  they  use  it.  Because 
they  know  it  is  best  not  to ;  they  know  that  the  Mutual 
Welfare  League  will  lose  its  privileges  if  the  members 
use  drugs.  It  is  no  religious  or  moral  motive  back  of 
it ;  it  is  selfishness.  But  it  works.  The  whole  system 
of  responsibility  works  because  it  is  human  nature  to 
rise  to  responsibility. 

"I  am  asked,  Where  is  the  punishment?  I  reply, 
I  am  not  a  believer  in  mere  punishment  that  has  no  end 
in  view.  Brutality  never  made  a  better  man.  Punish- 


84  THE  GOSPEL  OF  GOOD  WILL 

ment?  When  you  send  a  man  to  prison,  when  you  take 
his  liberty  away,  you  have  already  inflicted  the  most 
terrible  punishment  you  can  inflict.  It  isn't  the  ma- 
terial discomforts  that  make  a  prison.  I  have  suffered 
more  physical  discomforts  in  camp  than  I  have  in 
Auburn  prison.  Do  they  want  to  get  rid  of  me  and 
have  a  return  to  the  old  brutality?  To  keep  a  man  in 
a  cell  and  make  him  take  drugs  to  forget  —  that  is  not 
only  brutality,  that  is  blasphemy.  When  you  take 
away  the  right  of  speech,  God's  most  precious  gift, 
you  make  a  man  a  brute. 

"But,  men  and  women,  here  is  an  experiment  of 
immense  importance  to  the  whole  civilized  world  —  it 
is  a  determination  of  the  question,  Can  democracy  deal 
with  the  prison  problem?  It  is  not  so  much  a  problem 
of  having  men  safe  in  prison ;  it  is  a  problem  of  keeping 
them  safe  after  they  get  out." 

Here  we  have  the  stuff  Christian  forgiveness  is  made 
of  —  sacrifice  of  ease,  comfort,  home,  and  shortening  of 
life :  no  sympathy  with  crime  or  the  criminal  as  such : 
fellow-feeling  for  the  man  who  has  been  a  criminal:  a 
desire  and  a  plan  for  his  restoration  to  employment  and 
the  Good  Will  of  the  Christian  community:  firm  pro- 
tection of  society  with  no  brutality  in  the  treatment  of 
the  wrong-doer:  the  transformation  of  the  prisoners 


RESTORATION  TO  GOOD   WILL  85 

from  vindictive  foes  of  society,  to  its  disciplined  and 
well-disposed  servants. 

Mr.  Osborne  has  been  persecuted  and  maligned  as 
Jesus  was,  and  every  reformer  has  been  and  will  be. 
But  what  is  reviling,  persecution  and  false  accusation, 
compared  to  having  a  convict  say  of  one,  as  a  convict 
in  Sing  Sing  said  to  Mr.  Shuster,  as  reported  in  the 
Independent  for  July  19,  1915. 

"I  tell  you  Tom  Osborne  has  the  right  idea,  and  he's 
carrying  it  out  wonderfully.  He  is  making  the  State 
prison  what  it  ought  to  be  —  a  place  not  for  the  sup- 
pression of  all  that  is  human  in  us,  but  a  place  for  the 
making  of  good  citizens  to  go  back  to  society.  Under 
the  old  system,  if  you  weren't  a  criminal  before  you 
entered  Sing  Sing,  they  made  one  of  you  before  you 
went  out.  Now  it's  just  reversed.  If  there  is  any- 
thing wrong  with  you  when  you  come  in,  they  take  it 
out  of  you  before  you  leave.  And  they  do  it,  not  by 
brute  force,  but  by  fair  play  and  common  sense." 

After  making  all  necessary  deduction  for  this  con- 
vict's optimism,  the  mere  fact  that  he  expresses  himself 
in  this  cordial  way  shows  that  he  at  least,  if  not  every 
convict,  is  responding  to  Christian  treatment  with 
genuine  appreciation  and  heart-felt  gratitude. 

To  condemn  sin  is  easy.     It  comes  natural  to  the 


86  THE  GOSPEL  OF  GOOD  WILL 

censoriousness  of  our  hard  unregenerate  hearts.  To 
condemn  sin  with  a  sympathetic  appreciation  of  the 
genuine  goods  for  the  sake  of  which  men  are  drawn  into 
it,  is  less  easy  and  more  rare.  Yet,  as  we  have  seen, 
this  is  what  every  preacher  who  would  be  a  power  for 
good  in  a  community  must  do.  A  still  harder  task, 
however,  awaits  preacher  and  layman  alike.  Having 
condemned  the  sin ;  we  must  invite  the  sinner  to  repent- 
ance with  full  assurance  of  the  forgiveness  of  his  sins  by 
God,  by  Christ,  and  by  ourselves  and  our  fellows,  so  far 
as  we  are  sharers  with  Christ  in  the  Father's  Good  Will. 
Repentance  begins  in  a  man  as  soon  as  he  sees,  feels 
and  confesses  how  large  the  goods  lost  are  in  compari- 
son to  the  little  goods  his  sin  has  gained.  The  prodigal 
son  thinks  first  of  the  food  in  the  father's  house ;  later 
of  the  father  and  his  forgiveness.  Yet  repentance  is 
not  complete  and  permanent  until  the  penitent  has  some 
sense  of  Good  Will  toward  him,  either  in  his  fellow-man, 
or  Christ,  or  the  Father,  and  some  assurance  of  being 
taken  back  into  a  fellowship  in  which  he  is  looked  on 
not  with  condemnation  for  the  sin  he  has  committed, 
but  with  favor  in  view  of  his  repudiation  of  it.  It  is 
only  as  it  is  thrown  onto  the  background  of  Good  Will 
that  sin  is  felt  as  not  merely  the  loss  of  this  or  that 
specific  good  and  therefore  folly ;  but  as  the  failure  to 


RESTORATION   TO   GOOD   WILL  .        87 

come  up  to  the  best  in  personal  worth  and  relationship, 
and  therefore  needing  repentance.  Repentance  and 
offered  forgiveness  must  go  hand  in  hand.  A  man  can 
be  sorry  he  is  in  a  scrape,  and  wish  he  were  well  out  of 
it :  a  man  can  confess  that  he  is  a  fool  and  lament  the 
greater  goods  he  has  lost :  but  he  can't  repent  until  he 
believes  and  feels  Good  Will  welcoming  him,  mean  and 
contemptible  as  he  has  been,  into  its  noble  fellowship 
and  service. 

Christianity  is  the  good  news  that  no  sin  is  too  heinous 
to  be  forgiven  provided  the  one  who  has  committed  it 
repents.  For  proof  it  points  first  to  Christ  praying  for 
his  murderers,  "Father,  forgive  them,  for  they  know 
not  what  they  do."  He  appealed  to  his  Father's  Good 
Will,  knowing  that  it  could  not  withhold  forgiveness 
from  any  penitent.  He  exemplified  it  in  his  own  atti- 
tude. "Oh  Jerusalem,  Jerusalem,  which  killeth  the 
prophets,  and  stoneth  them  that  are  sent  unto  her :  how 
often  would  I  have  gathered  thy  children  together,  even 
as  a  hen  gathereth  her  chickens  under  her  wings,  and 
ye  would  not!"  What  is  more  to  the  point,  Christ 
expects  his  followers  to  be  so  filled  with  the  Spirit  of 
Good  Will  that  until  seventy  times  seven  they  will  for- 
give repented  sin  and  restore  to  favor  and  friendly 
intercourse  the  repentant  sinner. 


88  THE  GOSPEL  OF  GOOD  WILL 

Hence  our  willingness  to  forgive  serves  a  double  pur- 
pose. It  is  the  proof  of  God's  forgiveness  of  our  short- 
comings :  for  Good  Will  in  God  cannot  be  less  and  lower 
than  Good  Will  in  ourselves.  It  is  at  the  same  time 
the  best  evidence  of  our  fellowship  with  the  Father 
and  with  Christ :  for  forgiveness  is  the  hardest  task 
Good  Will  has  to  face;  and  if  we  are  equal  to 
that  until  seventy  times  seven:  if,  in  other  words, 
willingness  to  forgive  unto  the  uttermost  is  our  per- 
manent attitude,  then  we  share  Good  Will  in  its  most 
vital  and  exacting  expression.  It  thus  becomes  the 
preacher's  privilege  to  assure  every  man  who  has  done 
wrong  of  complete  forgiveness;  by  the  Father  and 
Christ  as  the  witness  of  the  Father :  and  also  by  all 
true  Christians  who  share  the  Father's  Good  Will  and 
have  the  Christlike  Spirit.  A  man  who  would  not  for- 
give the  worst  wrong,  even  if  done  directly  against 
himself,  or  against  those  dear  to  him,  when  satisfied 
that  the  wrong-doer  was  truly  penitent,  would  be  out 
of  Good  Will;  no  son  of  the  Father;  no  brother  of 
Christ;  no  sharer  of  the  Christian  Spirit.  A  Christ 
who  did  not  so  forgive  would  be  no  savior  of  the  world ; 
no  witness  to  Good  Will.  A  God  who  would  not  forgive 
at  the  first  sign  of  genuine  penitence  would  be  no  God 
of  Good  Will,  but  a  Devil;  meriting  not  the  worship 


RESTORATION   TO   GOOD   WILL  89 

and  praise  but  the  scorn  and  contempt  of  Christlike 
men.  Forgiveness  of  the  repentant  wrong-doer  is  so 
essential  an  attribute  of  God,  so  fundamental  a  quality 
of  the  Christlike  Spirit,  that  God  could  not  be  God; 
Christ  could  not  be  Christ ;  the  Christian  could  not  be 
a  Christian  without  it. 

Are  we  Christians  then?  Can  we  rise  to  this  high 
calling?  In  my  brief  pastorate  I  found  that  the  hardest 
task  I  had  to  undertake  was  not  to  convert  sinners, 
which  is  comparatively  easy  if  you  are  dealing  with  the 
grosser  types  of  sin,  but  to  induce  the  Christian  people 
of  the  Church  to  welcome  into  vital  fellowship  and 
cordial  social  recognition  the  reformed  drunkard  and 
the  repentant  woman  who  had  gone  astray.  Unless 
the  preacher  succeeds  in  developing  the  forgiving  spirit 
in  his  people:  not  the  forgiving  spirit  in  general  in 
church  on  Sunday;  but  the  forgiving  spirit  toward  in- 
dividual offenders  who  have  directly  or  indirectly 
injured  individuals;  the  Christian  Church  is  only  a 
heathen  body  in  a  Christian  dress;  and  preaching  is 
only  a  parrot-like  repetition  of  platitudes.  The  vital 
Christian  preacher  toward  each  repented  sin,  then,  has 
a  double  task :  to  assure  the  offender  that  God  forgives 
him  and  to  bring  himself  and  his  fellow-Christians  into 
the  forgiving  spirit  toward  him. 


90  THE  GOSPEL  OF  GOOD  WILL 

The  preaching  of  Christianity,  then,  with  reference 
to  drunkenness  and  the  drunkard,  should  be  that  any 
man  who  has  been  guilty  of  this  sin;  and  who  has 
come  to  see  and  feel  how  contrary  it  is  to  Good 
Will;  who  is  sincerely  sorry  for  the  cruel  wrong  it  has 
done;  and  who  puts  it  from  him  in  sorrow  and  loath- 
ing; is  as  welcome  a  child  of  the  Father  as  the  tem- 
perate man  who  never  went  astray;  is  a  brother  of 
Jesus  Christ;  and  entitled  to  as  kindly  and  courteous 
a  reception  by  Christian  people  as  the  holiest  saint. 
Can  you  then  greet  with  cordial  Christian  friendliness 
the  man  who  has  led  your  son  into  dissipation  and  dis- 
grace? Suffering  as  you  do  the  sorrow  and  shame  his 
sin  has  brought  to  you  and  those  dear  to  you,  can  you 
still  forgive  him  when  he  repents?  If  you  can,  God's 
Good  Will  is  in  you;  Christ  is  with  you;  of  such  as 
you  are  the  Kingdom  of  Heaven.  If  you  can't  you  have 
yet  to  learn  the  first  rudiments  of  Christian  living. 

Can  you  forgive  the  man  who  has  led  your  sister  or 
daughter  astray;  filling  her  life  with  bitterness  and 
shame,  and  your  heart  and  home  with  sorrow  and 
humiliation?  Can  you  restore  to  your  friendship  a 
man  or  woman  who  has  bought  their  selfish  sensual 
pleasure  at  such  a  tremendous  cost  of  pain  and  misery 
to  you  and  yours,  on  evidence  that  he  too  shares  the 


RESTORATION   TO   GOOD   WILL  91 

pain  and  misery  he  has  caused,  and  loathes  himself  for 
having  done  it  ?  If  you  can,  you  are  in  Good  Will.  If 
you  couldn't  or  wouldn't,  you  are  not  a  Christian,  not 
in  Good  Will  toward  that  repentant  offender;  but  a 
heathen  breathing  out  evil  against  one  who,  however 
evil  he  has  been,  is  now  repentant  of  evil  and  seeking 
good:  and  therefore  is  in  his  actual  present  attitude 
and  intent  a  nobler  man,  a  purer  woman,  than  you 
with  your  hard  and  unforgiving  heart  toward  him  on 
account  of  his  repented  past. 

Toward  the  lazy,  shiftless,  inefficient,  incompetent 
employee ;  who  is  sorry  for  the  waste  and  loss  and  in- 
jury his  incompetence  has  caused ;  can  you  be  apprecia- 
tive, friendly,  cordial,  kindly?  I  don't  ask,  Can  you 
take  him  back  and  retain  him  in  your  employ?  Some- 
times that  is  right,  and  sometimes  it  is  not.  Forgive- 
ness does  not  always  involve  restoration  to  previous 
status.  A  railroad  superintendent  cannot  rightly  take 
back  a  careless  switchman,  however  penitent;  for  he 
owes  more  to  the  thousands  of  passengers  than  to  the 
single  switchman.  A  theological  seminary  president 
cannot  rightly  retain  a  listless  professor,  however  sorry 
he  may  be  for  his  shortcomings ;  for  it  owes  more  to  its 
hundreds  of  students,  and  the  tens  of  thousands  in  their 
future  congregations  than  it  does  to  that  one  uninspir- 


92  THE  GOSPEL  OF  GOOD  WILL 

ing  teacher  and  his  dependent  family.  But  the  super- 
intendent of  the  railroad,  the  president  of  the  Seminary 
can,  and  if  a  Christian  must,  feel  a  personal  kindliness 
for  the  man  he  is  compelled  by  official  duty  to  discharge. 
Whether  he  retain  him  if  he  can ;  whether  he  discharge 
him  if  he  must,  the  employer  if  he  will  himself  remain 
son,  brother,  sharer  in  Good  Will,  must  retain  or 
discharge  him,  if  he  is  truly  sorry  for  his  inefficiency, 
with  something  of  the  same  sorrow  and  suffering  which 
the  repentant  employee  feels.  Vicarious  suffering;  the 
innocent  for  the  guilty;  was  not  enacted  once  for  all 
some  nineteen  centuries  ago.  It  is  the  law  of  Christian 
living  in  every  vital  relation  of  life,  like  that  of  em- 
ployer and  employee,  yesterday,  to-day  and  forever. 

Toward  the  frivolous  young  man  or  woman,  if  he  or 
she  comes  to  a  sense  of  his  or  her  wicked  worthlessness, 
and  is  sorry  for  it  and  ashamed  of  it ;  we  may  have  to 
be  officially  hard :  if,  for  instance,  we  happen  to  be 
school  principals  or  college  presidents  with  intellectual 
standards  to  maintain :  but  if  we  are  Christians,  if  we 
live  in  Good  Will,  we  are  bound  to  have  kind  hearts, 
good  wishes  and  a  forbearing  spirit;  and  as  far  as  our 
personal  feelings  toward  them  go,  give  them  as  cordial 
an  appreciation  and  as  sympathetic  a  treatment  as  we 
have  for  their  more  diligent  brothers  and  sisters  who 


RESTORATION  TO   GOOD   WILL  93 

through  the  whole  trying  eleven  hours  bear  the  burden 
and  heat  of  scholastic  requirement. 

A  man  has  slandered  us :  injured  our  standing  with 
persons  for  whom  we  care :  and  subjected  us  to  dis- 
trust, criticism,  defeat  and  injury.  Later,  too  late  to 
undo  the  harm,  he  comes  to  us  and  says  he  is  sorry. 
Can  we  feel  toward  him  the  kindliness  one  child  of  God 
should  feel  for  another?  If  we  are  sharers  with  Christ 
and  our  fellow-Christians  in  Good  Will  we  can.  And  if 
we  can't  then  while  we  may  be  no  worse  than  our  slan- 
derer was  when  he  slandered  us :  we  are  harder,  meaner, 
more  unkind  and  cruel  than  he  is  now.  He  is  now  in 
Good  Will ;  and  we  are  by  our  own  fault  out  of  it.  He 
is  in  the  Heaven  of  God's  favor;  Christ's  grace;  the 
Christian  fellowship.  We  are  in  the  hell  of  hard,  un- 
forgiving hate. 

A  dishonest  promoter,  with  glowing  prospectus,  forged 
testimonials,  false  hopes  of  large  dividends  secures  the 
hard  earnings  and  savings  of  a  lifetime :  lives  luxu- 
riously on  the  salary  he  votes  to  himself  or  the  profits 
he  unjustly  appropriates :  and  when  the  crash  comes 
leaves  us  penniless  in  old  age.  Hundreds  of  such 
tragedies  are  happening  every  day.  Ordinarily  the 
swindler  of  this  type  is  too  remote,  too  impersonal, 
for  his  victims  to  know  personally.  But  suppose  we 


94  THE  GOSPEL  OF  GOOD  WILL 

do  know  him;  and  know  that  he  is  truly  sorry;  not 
merely  for  the  prison  sentence  he  receives,  but  for  the 
privation  he  has  caused  us.  We  probably  should  not 
feel  called  upon  to  invest  any  further  savings  in  his 
enterprises.  But  if  we  are  Christians  we  should  will 
him  no  more  harm  than  the  protection  of  society  against 
similar  swindlers  requires  him  to  suffer.  And  as  soon 
as  that  object  is  accomplished,  if  convinced  of  his 
penitence  attested  by  works  meet  for  repentance,  we 
should  favor  his  release  on  parole,  or  even  his  complete 
pardon.  Otherwise  in  the  sight  of  God,  measured  by 
our  participation  in  Good  Will,  we  are  and  shall  be, 
if  not  worse  than  he  was,  worse  than  he  is  and  means 
to  be. 

An  avaricious  employer  coins  money  out  of  the  life- 
blood  of  our  boy  or  girl ;  and  by  compelling  him  or  her 
to  overwork  in  unsanitary  surroundings,  causes  disease 
and  premature  death.  Just  for  a  few  more  dollars  he 
murders  our  dear  one.  For,  if  not  ours  by  birth,  if  we 
are  in  Good  Will  all  boys  and  girls  are  ours  by  the 
adoption  of  sympathy.  And  tens  of  thousands  of  them 
are  being  slain  every  year  by  the  avarice  of  greedy 
employers  and  murderous  conditions  of  employment. 
When  he  sees  and  confesses  the  murder  he  has 
committed,  repents,  and  abandons  his  miserly  and 


RESTORATION   TO   GOOD   WILL  95 

murderous  habits  of  employment,  can  we  forgive  him, 
and  count  him  among  those  whom  common  devotion 
to  Good  Will  makes  friends?  If  not,  we  are  not  Chris- 
tians. If  we  can,  we  have  learned  the  lesson  and  re- 
produced the  meaning  of  the  cross  of  Christ. 

Some  one  has  been  inconsiderate,  haughty,  exclusive, 
supercilious  to  us,  or  to  those  we  love ;  causing  bitter 
pain  and  grief.  If  he  repents,  can  we  overcome  our 
resentment,  and  wish  for  him  full  measure  of  the  happi- 
ness he  has  cruelly  refused  to  give  to  us  and  ours  ?  The 
answer  to  that  question  will  show  whether  in  our  social 
relations  we  are  Christians,  or  mere  heathen  still. 

Another  has  been  jealous  of  our  standing,  our  talents, 
our  wealth,  and  tried  his  best  to  pull  us  down.  After- 
ward, seeing  the  injury  he  has  done,  he  is  sorry,  and 
tries  to  make  amends.  Can  we  give  him  our  favor,  our 
influence,  our  support  as  heartily  as  if  he  had  always 
rejoiced  in  our  good  fortune  ?  We  can  if  we  have  Good 
Will,  as  Christ  has  it ;  as  hosts  of  our  fellow  Christians 
have  it. 

Another  has  worried  the  life  out  of  us  by  perpetual 
nagging,  fault-finding,  complaining  and  uncalled-for 
criticism.  Seeing  how  weary  and  disheartened  he  has 
made  us,  he  repents,  and  begins  to  try  to  see  some  good 
amid  the  obvious  bad  in  us.  Can  we  welcome  him 


96  THE  GOSPEL  OF  GOOD  WILL 

back  to  our  friendship?  That  will  show  whether  Good 
Will  is  really  in  us,  or  our  profession  of  Christianity  is 
an  empty  form. 

A  man  has  annoyed  us  by  his  intolerable  conceit, 
until  we  can  hardly  endure  the  sight  of  him.  He  comes 
to  see  how  silly  and  petty  it  all  is,  and  is  heartily  ashamed 
of  himself.  Are  we  as  ready  with  our  welcome  to  the 
new  man  as  we  were  with  our  abomination  of  the  old? 
We  shall  be,  if  we  are  Christians ;  and  share  with  Christ 
and  all  true  Christians  God's  Good  Will. 

A  coward  betrays  us;  a  traitor  gives  away  a  cause 
for  which  we  have  labored  long  and  hard.  When  they 
see  the  injury  they  have  done  they  feel  like  Judas  ready 
to  go  hang  themselves.  Are  we  willing,  so  far  as  justice 
to  our  cause  permits,  to  take  them  back  into  our  friend- 
ship and  favor?  If  Christ  be  in  us,  if  we  are  with  him 
in  Good  Will,  we  shall ;  if  not,  we  shall  not. 

Finally  if  a  hypocrite,  whom  we  have  detested  as 
utterly  hollow-hearted  and  unreal,  confesses  and  re- 
nounces the  loathsome  sin,  can  we  give  him  another 
chance  ?  This  is  perhaps  the  hardest  test  of  all :  for 
we  can't  help  suspecting  that  his  repentance  is  only  one 
more  pose;  and  we  don't  like  the  idea  of  being  fooled 
by  him.  If  we  do  give  him  our  confidence,  our  fellows 
will  smile  and  call  us  "easy."  Yet  that  is  a  risk  Good 


RESTORATION  TO   GOOD   WILL  97 

Will  calls  us  to  run  whenever  not  mere  words  but  works 
meet  for  repentance  are  in  evidence.  It  is  better  that 
we  should  be  deceived  in  an  honest  attempt  to  forgive 
one  who  was  and  still  is  a  hypocrite,  than  that  we  should 
refuse  forgiveness  to  one  who  merely  has  been  a  hypo- 
crite ;  is  sorry  for  it ;  and  is  resolved  henceforth  to  be 
a  sincere  man. 

The  forgiveness  of  sin  is  not  something  done  once  for 
all  in  ancient  history,  or  eternal  in  the  heavens;  but 
it  is  something  we  all  are  called  upon  to  do  every  day, 
and  the  spirit  of  which  we  need  to  have  with  us  and  in 
us  all  the  time.  To  keep  that  spirit  alive  in  himself 
and  his  people;  to  pronounce  unchristian  every  man 
and  every  act  whereby  forgiveness  and  its  appropri- 
ate expression  are  withheld,  is  one  of  the  preacher's 
hardest  tasks;  and  one  which  if  successfully  accom- 
plished is  the  clearest  evidence  of  a  successful  and 
faithful  ministry.  For  the  man  or  community  that 
has  the  forgiving  spirit  is  in  Good  Will.  While  one 
who  fails  to  forgive  in  this  personal  costly  way  is  out 
of  it  altogether. 

The  question  will  arise  in  the  minds  of  those  famil- 
iar with  traditional  views,  What  has  the  Cross  of 
Christ  to  do  with  the  forgiveness  of  sin?  If  God  were 
a  jealous,  arbitrary  being ;  a  stickler  for  his  own  offended 


98  THE   GOSPEL   OF   GOOD   WILL 

dignity  and  the  majesty  of  his  law,  we  can  see  how  the 
death  of  an  innocent  victim  might  be  necessary  to 
buy  him  off :  just  as  believers  in  a  personal  devil  (who 
by  the  way  is  not  so  very  different  from  such  a  God) 
thought  a  ransom  to  him  necessary.  Undoubtedly  in 
St.  Paul's  attempts  by  Rabbinical  reasoning  to  explain 
Christ's  death  in  terms  of  the  Hebrew  sacrificial  system 
there  are  passages  which  lend  themselves  to  such  inter- 
pretation. If  that  is  the  way  you  think  and  feel  about 
God,  and  Christ's  sacrifice,  undoubtedly  you  can  sup- 
port it  by  "proof  texts"  from  the  Bible.  On  the  other 
hand,  if  you  think  of  God  as  the  Fatherly  Good  Will  to 
all  his  children:  most  tender  to  those  who  have  gone 
farthest  astray;  and  most  eager  to  welcome  the  prodi- 
gal's return  (a  view  for  which  there  are  far  more  "proof 
texts"),  the  idea  that  such  Good  Will  to  men  needed 
any  ransom  or  appeasement  of  wrath  is  monstrous  and 
absurd.  All  forgiveness,  as  we  have  seen,  involves 
sacrifice  of  merely  individual  feelings,  and  power  to  rise 
above  them  to  a  point  of  view  high  and  large  enough  to 
include  the  offender's  welfare.  If  Jesus  had  not  been 
equal  to  that;  if  he  had  not  stood  ready  to  pay  the 
full  measure  of  such  devotion  to  the  real  welfare  of  an 
evil  and  hostile  world,  he  would  not  have  revealed  God's 
Good  Will:  he  would  have  fallen  below  what  the  best 


RESTORATION   TO   GOOD   WILL  99 

Christian  men  and  women  have  attained.  In  that  deep 
and  real  sense  Christ  bore  the  burden  of  the  world's 
iniquity :  the  chastisement  of  our  peace  was  upon  him : 
and  with  his  stripes  we  are  healed.  He  did  in  a  typical 
historic  situation,  on  a  large  world  scale,  what  every 
one  of  his  followers  is  repeatedly  called  upon  to  do :  — 
he  rose  above  his  individual  pleasure  and  preference  to  a 
universal  devotion  to  the  good  of  all  whom  his  action 
could  affect :  and  he  paid  with  his  life  the  cost  of  such 
devotion.  If  Good  Will  were  not  thus  self-sacrificing, 
self-transcending ;  if  Christ  had  not  revealed  it  in 
agony  and  blood;  if  countless  Christian  men  and 
women  did  not  share  this  sacrificial  attitude  and  bear 
their  portion  of  this  cross,  sin  would  be  unforgiven 
and  unforgivable;  the  sinner  who  had  fallen  would 
be  irrevocably  doomed ;  and  his  restoration  to  divine 
and  human  favor  would  be  impossible.  In  that  sense 
Christ  had  to  suffer  for  our  salvation :  but  in  the 
same  way  every  Christian  has  to  suffer  for  the  for- 
giveness and  restoration  of  those  who  wrong  him  and 
those  dear  to  him,  and  in  wronging  them  wrong  the 
world.  Christ's  cross  is  not  unique  but  typical:  Cal- 
vary is  not  local  but  cosmic :  sacrifice  is  not  temporal 
but  eternal.  The  lamb  was  slain  from  the  foundation 
of  the  world.  Only  he  who  dies  to  self  can  live  to  God's 


100  THE   GOSPEL   OF    GOOD   WILL 

Good  Will,  and  restore  wrong-doers  to  their  forfeited 
place  in  that  Good  Will. 

As  the  basis  of  forgiveness,  sacrifice  is  necessary :  not 
in  an  external,  forensic,  or  merchandising  sense ;  but  in 
the  intimate,  personal  sense  of  including  others,  however 
undeserving  they  may  have  been,  in  the  Good  Will 
which  one  shares  toward  them  with  God.  So  under- 
stood, the  preacher  may  and  should  freely  use  the  suffer- 
ings of  Christ  as  the  strongest  appeal  to  Christians  to 
be  forgiving ;  and  to  wrong-doers  to  believe  that  God's 
Good  Will  forgives  them  the  instant  they  repent. 

For  Christ's  sacrifice  is  so  clear  and  compelling :  so 
individual  and  so  universal:  so  enshrined  in  literature 
and  art,  emotion  and  conception;  that  it  reveals  the 
forgiving  Good  Will  of  God  a  thousandfold  more 
effectively  than  the  fragmentary,  scattered  sacrifices  of 
his  followers ;  obscured  as  these  are  by  familiarity,  im- 
perfection, and  entanglement  with  sordid  details. 

The  preacher  then  will  preach  Christ  and  him  crucified 
as  the  assurance  of  the  forgiveness  of  sins.  But  it  will 
be  a  cross  borne  in  the  heart  of  the  Father  as  well  as 
the  Son:  a  cross  of  which  each  faithful  and  forgiving 
follower  bears  his  part. 

Good  Will,  conditioned  by  the  structure  of  the  uni- 
verse and  the  freedom  of  man,  seeks  for  each  and  all 


RESTORATION   TO   GOOD   WILL  IOI 

the  greatest  good  these  conditions  permit.  When  a 
man  does  wrong,  Good  Will  resists  the  wrong  action  in 
the  interest  of  those  who  are  wronged  by  it;  and  also 
in  the  interest  of  the  wrong-doer.  For  it  is  good  for  the 
transgressor  to  find  his  way  made  hard.  When  he  turns 
from  it  and  repents,  Good  Will  instantly  accepts  him  as 
potentially  its  servant.  To  go  on  identifying  the  wrong- 
doer with  the  wrong  he  has  repudiated  would  be  not 
only  brutal  but  stupid.  It  is  not  merely  contrary  to 
Good  Will;  it  is  contradictory  to  the  facts.  The  re- 
pentant wrong-doer  is  right :  and  if  God  did  not  recog- 
nize it  he  would  be  unreasonable :  if  recognizing  it  he 
did  not  forgive  he  would  be  unrighteous.  Forgiveness 
is  not  a  special  favor,  exceptional,  gratuitous.  When  a 
wrong-doer  has  repented  it  is  the  only  decent  thing  to  do. 
A  man  who  would  not  forgive  another  man  who  repented 
the  wrong  he  had  done  him  would  be  an  inhuman  brute. 
A  God  who  would  not  forgive  a  man  who  repented  the 
wrong  he  had  done,  would  be  a  devil.  Christ  has  re- 
vealed the  reasonableness  and  righteousness  of  forgive- 
ness so  clearly  and  beautifully  that  whoever  falls  below 
it  ceases  to  be  divine  and  human ;  and  becomes  brutal 
and  fiendish. 

The  fact  that  so  much  of  our  theology  presents  a  God 
who  is  reluctant  to  forgive,  and  forgives  only  by  special 


UNIVEftliiTY  OF  CALIFORNIA 


102  THE   GOSPEL   OF   GOOD   WILL 

arrangement,  shows  how  far  we  are  from  having  incor- 
porated into  it  the  disposition  and  insight  of  Jesus.  As 
Jesus  taught  us,  the  fact  that  "we  ourselves  forgive 
every  one  that  is  indebted  to  us"  (Luke  xi.  4),  is  sure 
proof  that  a  God  who  is  not  inferior  to  us  cannot  do  less 
than  forgive  us  our  sins.  Refusal  or  hesitation  to  do  so 
is  unmistakable  evidence  of  the  uneliminated  brutality 
of  the  God  or  man  who  fails  to  forgive. 

Forgiveness  is  the  most  distinctive  note  Christ  brought 
to  the  world ;  and  explains  why  he  was  so  insistent  on 
repentance.  For  until  the  wrong-doer  repents  it  is 
neither  rational  nor  righteous  to  forgive  him.  To  for- 
give the  unrepentant,  or,  in  Mr.  Osborne's  words,  to  sym- 
pathize with  the  criminal  as  criminal,  is  to  enter  into 
complicity  with  his  wrong-doing.  Only  on  the  basis  of 
stern  condemnation  for  the  deliberate  and  unrepentant 
wrong-doer  is  forgiveness  consistent  with  moral  and 
spiritual  integrity.  Cherished  and  unrepented  sin,  as 
we  saw,  shuts  the  sinner  entirely  out  of  fellowship  with 
Good  Will.  That  truth  must  be  firmly  held  and  un- 
compromisingly proclaimed.  Then  with  equal  confi- 
dence the  complementary  truth  must  be  added:  that 
not  by  special  arrangement,  or  forensic  dickering,  but 
as  the  essential  expression  of  the  intrinsic  nature  of  Good 
Will,  each  and  every  sin  is  forgiven,  the  worst  wrong- 


RESTORATION   TO   GOOD   WILL  103 

doer  is  restored  to  the  favor  of  God,  of  Christ,  and  of  all 
Christian  men,  the  instant  he  sincerely  repents  the 
wrong  that  he  has  done.  As  sure  as  sin  shuts  out  the 
sinner ;  so  sure  sincere  penitence  brings  forgiveness  and 
the  welcome  to  the  Father's  house  of  the  returning  prod- 
igal. We  are  all  prodigals :  sacrificing  over  and  over 
again,  until  seventy  times  seven,  the  greater  and  the 
greatest  to  the  little  and  the  less;  but  as  often  as  we 
repent,  even  unto  seventy  times  seven,  we  are  assured 
of  the  forgiveness  and  fellowship  of  God,  of  Christ,  and 
all  men  who  have  the  Christian  Spirit.  This  is  the  best 
part  of  the  good  news  the  preacher  of  the  Gospel  of 
Good  Will  is  commissioned  to  preach. 

He  has,  however,  more  to  do  than  merely  to  preach 
it.  He  must  bring  himself  and  his  people  to  practice  it. 
Forgiveness  is  kindness  toward  a  person  who  has  been 
doing  something  which  we  abhor.  It  is  personal  Good 
Will  shining  through  intense  disapproval.  It  is  close 
and  friendly  contact  with  a  person  whose  act  and  atti- 
tude we  shrink  from  and  antagonize.  It  is  not  natural, 
and  therefore  rare.  When  it  occurs  it  is  supernatural 
and  indicates  the  presence  in  the  heart  of  him  who  for- 
gives, of  something  superhuman,  divine.  That  some- 
thing is  Good  Will  in  its  most  costly,  sacrificial  form. 

Who  is  the  agent  of  forgiveness?    In  the  deepest 


104  THE   GOSPEL   OF  GOOD   WILL 

sense,  of  course,  God,  and  God  alone,  can  forgive  sins. 
That,  however,  is  only  another  way  of  saying  what  was 
said  above,  that  forgiveness  is  an  act  of  supernatural, 
divine  love.  For  God  is  Good  Will ;  and  whatever  can 
be  done  only  in  Good  Will,  is  done  in  God  and  through 
God. 

In  another  sense,  equally  profound,  Christ  is  the  one 
through  whom  all  sins  are  forgiven.  For  Christ  is  the 
historic  representative,  accepted  as  such  by  an  ever  in- 
creasing proportion  of  the  race,  of  that  self-sacrificing, 
outgoing  love  which  holds  dear  and  sacred  every  human 
soul,  however  depraved.  Since  Christ  means  that,  and 
without  that  forgiveness  is  impossible,  we  rightly  regard 
him  as  the  Forgiver  and  Saviour  of  all  who  have  sinned. 
There  is  no  other  door  into  the  sheepfold.  Other  foun- 
dation can  no  man  lay  than  that  is  laid,  which  is  Jesus 
Christ. 

All  this,  however,  may  be  accepted  either  in  a  dry, 
dead,  traditional  sense,  or  in  a  fresh,  vital,  world-con- 
quering sense.  Of  late  the  church,  for  the  most  part, 
has  accepted  it  in  the  dry,  dead,  unfruitful  sense.  The 
church  that  takes  it  in  this  sense  is  doomed.  The 
preachers  that  preach  it  are  offering  their  diminishing 
congregations  a  gospel  of  mere  words. 

The  agents  of  God's  forgiveness  are  individual  Chris- 


RESTORATION  TO   GOOD   WILL  105 

tian  men  and  women.  The  real  church  is  the  com- 
pany of  those  who  have  God's  forgiving  love  in  their 
hearts,  and  bestow  it  on  their  fellow  men.  Wherever 
one  such  soul  forgives  and  loves  another,  however  un- 
worthy that  other  be,  there  the  kingdom  of  God  comes 
and  spreads.  Whoever  forgives  others  has  the  indis- 
pensable experience  within  him  by  which  to  interpret 
the  reported  and  transmitted  forgiveness  of  God  in 
Jesus  Christ.  To  those  who  lack  that  experience  in 
themselves,  or  lack  some  human  friend  to  act  as  its 
interpreter  to  them,  forgiveness,  however  eloquently 
reported  in  book  or  sermon,  remains  a  sealed  message, 
an  untranslated  and  untranslatable  cipher.  Forgive- 
ness is  a  personal  relation,  and  requires  for  its  full  and 
adequate  expression  two  parties,  both  human,  sharing 
together  the  condemnation  of  whatever  has  been  wrong 
in  either;  bearing  toward  each  other  mutual  respect, 
and  mutual  affection.  Until  God's  forgiveness  is  thus 
incarnated,  until  Christ's  forgiveness  is  thus  repro- 
duced in  the  specific  situation  where  it  is  needed,  toward 
the  particular  individual  who  has  done  the  wrong,  it 
remains  something  up  in  the  clouds,  back  in  ancient 
history.  It  is  not  a  vital,  flesh-and-blood  reality,  doing 
its  redeeming,  transforming  work  in  the  midst  of  breath- 
ing, erring,  repenting  men  and  women,  in  the  homes, 


106  THE   GOSPEL  OF   GOOD   WILL 

and  factories,  and  farms,  and  stores,  and  offices,  and 
prisons  of  the  actual  modern  world. 

If  we  are  to  help  save  the  world,  we  must  not  merely 
report  forgiveness  as  a  fact  in  eternity,  or  as  an  event  in 
past  time.  We  must  not  merely  symbolize  Christ's 
sacrificial  love  upon  the  altar,  or  announce  it  from  the 
pulpit :  we  must  act  it  out ;  we  must  be  the  agents  of  it. 
For  though  it  is  true  that  one  may  learn  of  Christ's 
forgiveness  from  sermon  or  Bible,  even  then  it  is  experi- 
ence of  forgiveness  by  a  human  father,  mother,  teacher, 
or  friend,  which  gives  the  hearer  or  reader  the  power 
to  interpret  in  real  terms  the  reported  or  recorded  for- 
giveness of  Christ. 

Real  forgiveness,  genuine  salvation,  requires  that 
some  one  who  has  the  love  of  Christ  for  men  in  his  heart 
shall  come  close  to  the  individual  who  has  done  wrong, 
touch  him  at  the  sensitive  point  of  his  particular  wrong- 
doing with  mingled  kindness  for  him  and  condemnation 
for  his  sin,  and  win  him  to  share  with  the  one  who  loves 
him,  and  with  God,  their  common  condemnation  of  the 
wrong  which  he  has  done.  Whoever  makes  such  loving 
forgiveness  the  principle  and  spirit  of  his  life,  thereby 
enters  and  abides  in  the  kingdom  of  God,  and  the  body 
of  Christ.  Wherever  one  such  soul  forgives  and  loves 
another  who  has  done  wrong,  there  the  kingdom  of  God 


RESTORATION   TO  GOOD  WILL  1 07 

comes,  there  the  church  of  Christ  extends  and  spreads. 
All  who  have  that  experience,  have  the  experience 
•  wherewith  to  assure  themselves  that  the  reported  for- 
giveness of  God  in  Jesus  Christ  includes  and  applies 
to  them;  and  to  all  whom,  with  the  insight  of  love, 
they  lovingly  forgive. 


IV 

GOOD  WILL  IN  SECULAR  VOCATIONS:    SERVICE 

"All  business  should  be  done  so  that  the  advantage  is  distrib- 
uted. Business  success  should  mean  much  more  than  the  enrich- 
ment of  an  individual.  It  should  mean  that  the  community  is 
enriched."  WILLIAM  H.  BALDWIN,  Jr.,  in  An  American  Citizen 
by  John  Graham  Brooks,  pp.  282-283. 

THESE  are  the  words  of  a  brilliantly  successful  rail- 
road president.  Our  lesson  will  be  a  series  of  brief 
selections  from  his  biography,  showing  the  attitude 
towards  business  this  successful  railroad  president  main- 
tained. Before  describing  this  attitude  as  an  ideal  for 
all  vocations  it  is  well  for  us  to  recognize  that  in  one 
man  at  least,  in  the  most  intricate  and  delicate  of  all 
vocations,  that  of  railroading,  this  attitude,  here  in  the 
United  States  in  the  twentieth  century,  has  been  a  fact, 
and  a  successful  fact. 

"There  was  never  a  moment  when,  in  the  deeper,  wider 
currents  of  his  mind,  he  was  not  moved  by  impulses 
greater  than  the  acquisition  of  wealth :  never  a  moment 

1 08 


GOOD  WILL  IN  SECULAR  VOCATIONS  :  SERVICE   109 

when  this  was  not  a  secondary  and  subordinate  object 
of  his  energies." 

"He  early  learned  that  interests  between  the  manage- 
ment and  the  laborer  are  one  and  the  same  only  as  both 
sides  try  to  make  them  the  same.  This  harmony  does 
not  come  of  itself,  nor  is  it  to  be  taken  for  granted.  All 
the  truth  it  holds  has  to  be  created  by  honorable  pur- 
pose and  Good  Will." 

"He  came  to  think  of  the  railroad  as  having  one  final 
justification,  —  namely,  the  development  of  business  in 
the  communities  through  which  it  passed.  It  was  there 
to  make  life  easier  to  the  farmer.  It  was  there  to  cheapen 
products  to  the  consumer.  It  was  there  to  assist  in  the 
distribution  of  congested  city  populations." 

"His  whole  idea  of  the  railroad  was  to  develop  it  in 
the  interest  of  everybody  along  the  route.  Its  pros- 
perity was  to  be  the  common  prosperity.  Baldwin  not 
only  held  that  as  a  theory,  but  he  acted  upon  it  practi- 
cally." 

"With  stubborn  valor  he  took  the  position  that  all 
business  necessary  to  be  done,  can  be  done  without  base- 
ness. It  can  be  done  without  low  trickeries  and  with- 
out organizing  injury  against  one's  fellow  men." 

"Among  his  best  and  surest  gifts  was  that  rare  power 
of  putting  himself  so  vividly  in  the  place  of  another,  as 


110  THE   GOSPEL   OF   GOOD   WILL 

to  enlarge  and  humanize  his  observation.  He  was 
always  helped  by  asking,  'What  should  I  think  and 
do,  if  I  were  actually  in  that  man's  place  ? ' " 

"Our  transportation  system  is  our  largest  machine 
and  also  our  most  important.  It  is  so  important  that 
the  motive  in  its  management  should  be  elevated  and 
broadened.  It  should  be  first  a  social  motive  and  not 
a  personal  one.  He  insisted  that  the  propaganda  for 
teaching  this  social  motive  to  the  people  could  not  begin 
an  hour  too  soon." 

"  In  the  spirit  of  fair  play,  he  asks  the  simplest  ques- 
tion :  If  these  billions  of  capital  have  to  be  organized 
in  order  to  protect  themselves  against  disrupting  rival- 
ries, do  not  the  laborers  working  for  these  organizations 
have  the  same  need  of  combination  ?  Do  they  not  need 
it  for  the  same  reason  ?  Is  capital  exposed  to  cut-throat 
competition  in  any  greater  degree  than  labor  is  exposed 
to  it?  How  can  capital  have  the  face  to  ask  for  com- 
bination, in  order  to  free  itself  from  a  murderous  compe- 
tition, when  labor  suffers  every  bit  as  much  from  the 
same  cause?  An  encouraged  immigration  of  unskilled 
foreigners  subjects  the  common  workman  in  this  country 
to  the  most  relentless  pressure,  and  yet  he  is  to  be  de- 
prived of  the  very  instruments  of  self-protection  which 
capital  claims  and  is  strong  enough  to  get." 


GOOD   WILL  IN   SECULAR  VOCATIONS:     SERVICE      III 

"  I  need,  as  an  employer,  an  organization  among  my 
employees,  because  they  know  their  needs  better  than 
I  can  know  them,  and  they  are  therefore  the  safeguard 
upon  which  I  must  depend  in  order  to  prevent  me  from 
doing  them  an  injustice." 

"The  function  performed  by  railroads  has  become 
too  important  to  the  body  politic  to  permit  of  any  solu- 
tion of  these  serious  labor  and  wage  questions,  except 
by  intelligent  consideration  on  the  part  of  the  representa- 
tives both  of  the  management  and  of  the  employees." 

"Collective  bargaining  and  voluntary  arbitration 
are  possible  only  when  the  employer  recognizes  the  right 
of  the  employed  to  have  a  voice  in  the  fixing  of  wages 
and  conditions  of  employment.  The  recognition  of 
committees  of  employees  is  absolutely  essential  and  is 
judged  to  be  inevitable." 

"His  religion  of  Good  Will  is  a  religion  which  required 
in  his  case  little  ritual  or  institutional  expression.  He 
lives  it  quite  as  much  on  Monday  as  on  Sunday.  He 
lives  it  in  his  office  and  on  the  train.  He  lives  it  in  the 
turmoil  of  a  strike  and  in  the  treatment  of  his  subordi- 
nates. He  lives  it  with  the  negro,  for  whom  he  asked 
justice  as  he  asked  it  for  the  trade-union.  It  is  this 
religion  which  gave  him  the  pity  and  tolerance  for  the 
prostitute  even  while  enforcing  the  law  against  her." 


112  THE   GOSPEL   OF   GOOD   WILL 

"His  assertion  that  the  private  dividends  should  not 
be  first,  but  strictly  subordinated  to  the  common  wel- 
fare, is  an  unflinching  ethical  proposal.  There  is  no 
better  definition  of  social  morality  than  conscious  sub- 
mission of  our  action  to  the  good  of  the  community. 
To  make  the  common  weal  the  controlling  test  of  cor- 
porate action  would  moralize  business  as  it  would  moral- 
ize politics.  It  would  revolutionize  our  wealth-making 
more  profoundly  than  most  socialist  schemes  now  in 
vogue.  This  principle  of  using  corporate  power  first 
for  public  ends,  was  not  with  Baldwin  a  mood  of  phrase- 
making.  It  had  to  him  a  clear-cut  meaning  on  which 
he  was  willing  to  act." 

"Baldwin  did  not  vapor  about  ideals  or  force  them 
upon  unwilling  ears.  There  never  was  in  him  a  taint  of 
the  'holier-than-thou'  attitude,  yet  he  was  an  idealist 
in  its  strict  and  proper  sense  —  a  mind  moved  by  ideas. 
What  haunts  him  and  even  drives  him  is  a  moral  im- 
agery of  something  better.  The  propelling  idea  in  his 
case  is  moral  because  it  consciously  includes  the  good  of 
other  people.  If  the  mental  picture  is  that  of  his  rail- 
road, he  conceives  of  it  in  relation  to  public  welfare. 
The  railroad  must  be  more  and  more  efficient  in  a  ser- 
vice that  includes  everybody.  He  does  not  think  of  it 
merely  as  a  machine  out  of  which  a  few  private  pockets 


GOOD   WILL  IN  SECULAR  VOCATIONS:     SERVICE      113 

are  to  be  filled.  Its  one  justification  is  that  it  helps 
toward  a  development  in  which  all  men  share." 

"It  was  never  for  a  moment  his  purpose  to  make  all 
the  money  he  could  possibly  acquire.  .  With  moral 
deliberation,  he  set  limits  to  his  own  acquisition.  He 
would  make  money,  but  he  would  make  it  with  condi- 
tions. He  would  neither  be  a  parasite  nor  a  gambler. 
Upon  principle,  he  would  grow  rich  more  slowly  if  there 
were  any  question  of  straight  and  honorable  methods. 
In  a  case  of  proposed  railroad  extension,  he  was  asked, 
as  an  official,  to  take  advantage  of  plans  then  secret 
and  buy  certain  properties.  He  considered  it,  but  re- 
fused. 'I  could  have  made  a  pot  of  money  out  of  that,' 
he  said,  'but  I  should  have  sold  too  much  of  myself.' ' 

With  this  twentieth-century,  American  fact  as  text 
and  lesson,  we  may  now  apply  this  "religion  of  Good 
Will"  to  other  representative  vocations. 

To  transform  into  expressions  of  itself  all  secular 
vocations  is  the  practical  aim  of  Good  Will ;  and  there- 
fore the  objective  at  which  the  preacher  by  words  and 
the  layman  by  works  must  aim.  We  must  see  in  sharp, 
clear  contrast  the  difference  between  the  man  who  is 
and  who  is  not  enlisted  in  the  service  of  Good  Will,  as 
that  difference  comes  out  in  the  secular  vocations. 

Stated  in  general  terms  that  difference  is  that  the  self- 


114  THE   GOSPEL  OF   GOOD   WILL 

ish  man  does  not  consider,  and  the  servant  of  Good  Will 
does  consider,  the  consequences  of  his  action  to  all 
who  are  affected  by  it  precisely  as  if  he  bore  those  conse- 
quences in  his  own  person.  Let  us  then  run  through 
a  representative  list  of  vocations,  putting  the  natural 
man  who  serves  his  own  will  first,  and  the  Christian 
man  who  serves  Good  Will  second  in  each  case.  That 
will  show  what  the  preacher  has  to  preach,  and  the 
layman  has  to  practice,  to  make  the  world  the  Kingdom 
of  Good  Will  and  of  Christ  as  its  historic  champion. 

The  natural  man,  as  worker,  thinks  first  of  his  pay ; 
and  secondly  of  doing  his  work  well  enough  to  hold  his 
job  and  continue  to  draw  his  pay.  The  man  who  has 
heard  and  obeyed  the  call  of  Good  Will  thinks  first 
of  his  work  and  the  substantial  benefits  it  will  confer 
on  the  consumer  of  its  product ;  does  it  heartily  with  his 
eye  on  the  good  it  is  doing ;  and  takes  his  pay  gratefully 
as  more  or  less  of  an  equivalent  given  him  in  return 
for  the  service  he  has  rendered.  The  natural  man 
therefore  does  his  work  slavishly  and  grudgingly:  the 
disciple  of  Good  Will  does  it  freely  and  gladly;  giving 
full  measure,  whether  the  measure  of  pay  is  quite  full 
or  not. 

The  natural  man,  as  player  of  any  game  plays  to  win, 
by  fair  means  or  foul.  The  man  of  Good  Will  in  every 


GOOD  WILL  IN  SECULAR  VOCATIONS:  SERVICE   115 

game  virtually  offers  the  prayer,  "Fair  play;  and  may 
the  best  man  win."  He  would  rather  be  beaten  fairly 
than  win  unfairly:  and  when  the  better  man  wins 
will  be  as  glad  for  him,  and  as  appreciative  of  his  skill 
and  prowess,  as  though  those  superior  qualities  had 
been  his  own.  The  boy  who  can  do  his  best  and  still 
be  glad  to  find  in  another  a  better  than  his  best,  has 
gone  a  long  way  on  the  Christian  road  :  and  the  preacher 
who  can  enter  his  young  people  on  that  arduous  race 
is  doing  his  part  as  coach  of  their  spiritual  athletics. 
Pluck,  training,  courage,  perseverance,  and  also  courtesy, 
honor,  chivalry,  magnanimity,  must  mark  the  spiritual 
athlete  who  will  win  the  prize  of  Christlike  character 
offered  by  Good  Will. 

The  natural  employer  of  labor,  the  employer  who 
recognizes  no  will  but  the  will  of  his  own  interest,  will 
pay  as  little  wages,  and  provide  as  inexpensive  condi- 
tions of  life  and  labor  as  possible ;  and  let  his  relations 
to  his  employees  end  then  and  there.  It  is  the  preach- 
er's duty  to  make  every  such  employer  chronically  un- 
comfortable. He  will  make  the  cold-blooded,  hard- 
hearted grinder  of  the  faces  of  his  employees  realize 
that  not  to  make  his  relationship  to  his  employees 
an  expression  of  Good  Will,  is  to  be  himself  out  of  that 
Will  altogether.  Bits  of  it  he  may  pick  up  in  his  home, 


Il6  THE   GOSPEL   OF   GOOD   WILL 

his  club,  his  associations  with  other  employers.  But 
in  the  full  comprehensive  fellowship  of  Good  Will  no 
employer  of  labor  can  be,  who  fails  to  make  the  welfare 
of  his  employees  the  constant  object  of  his  will. 

On  the  contrary  the  employer  who  is  himself  in  the 
employ  of  Good  Will  aims  to  make  his  employees 
participants  in  the  financial  profit;  the  social  spirit; 
the  good  name  and  good  order,  which  binds  employer 
and  employees  together  in  mutual  loyalty  and  devotion. 
Precisely  how  this  is  to  be  done  or  how  far  it  should 
be  carried,  through  profit-sharing,  arbitration,  welfare 
work,  social  centers,  athletic  teams,  the  preacher  may 
not  be  enough  of  an  accountant,  a  business  man,  or 
a  sociologist,  to  point  out  in  detail.  Unless  he  is  an 
expert  he  will  do  best  to  leave  these  details  to  the  em- 
ployer to  work  out  in  his  own  way.  His  business  is 
to  make  sure  that  the  employer,  if  he  thinks  of  him- 
self as  a  Christian,  shall  as  an  essential  part  of  that 
thought  think  of  his  employees  as  partners,  brothers, 
helpers,  friends,  whose  interests  are  included  in  the 
interest  he  takes  in  his  business  as  a  whole. 

The  Christian  employee,  in  proportion  to  the  number 
in  his  class,  is  rarer  than  the  Christian  employer.  The 
natural  man  as  employee  does  as  little  as  he  can :  feels 
no  responsibility  for  use  of  time,  care  of  tools  and  plant, 


GOOD  WILL  IN  SECULAR  VOCATIONS  I  SERVICE   117 

economy  of  materials,  or  soundness  of  product.  He 
regards  his  employer  as  his  natural  enemy;  and  too 
often  values  his  union  chiefly  as  a  means  of  fighting 
him. 

The  Christian  employee,  the  employee  who  lives  in 
Good  Will,  makes  his  employer's  interest  his  own; 
whether  this  interest  is  reciprocated  or  not ;  even  if  the 
employer  be  a  big  and  perhaps  corruptly  managed 
impersonal  corporation.  He  will  give  it  his  best  work, 
his  best  thought,  his  best  care;  whatever  he  gets  in 
return.  If  he  joins  a  union  and  fights  for  and  by  col- 
lective bargaining,  as  he  has  a  perfect  right  to,  he  will 
be  careful  to  do  no  injury  beyond  what  may  be  neces- 
sary to  make  his  employer  realize  his  rights  and  treat 
him  as  a  fellow-man.  With  malice  toward  none,  with 
charity  for  all  employers,  the  Christian  employee  will 
do  his  best  work  as  long  as  he  works  at  all ;  and  when 
he  strikes  it  will  be  under  the  stern  necessity  of  a  last 
resort  in  the  interest  of  justice ;  not  as  a  welcome  chance 
to  show  his  animosity. 

This  Gospel  of  Good  Will,  when  preached  to  work- 
ing-men and  their  unions,  will  not  always  be  a  welcome 
one.  But  the  preacher  must  be  as  plain  with  the  em- 
ployee as  with  the  employer ;  hold  up  as  high  and  hard 
a  service  of  Good  Will  before  the  one  class  as  before  the 


Il8  THE   GOSPEL  OF   GOOD   WILL 

other.  The  Christian  solution  of  the  labor  problem  is 
not  as  simple,  as  easy,  as  congenial  to  the  heart  of 
the  selfish  man  as  many  of  the  panaceas  offered  appear 
to  be.  But  if  once  generally  applied  it  can  be  guar- 
anteed to  work:  and  not  only  solve  the  problem,  but 
make  heroes  of  those  who  do  their  part  in  its  solution. 

The  selfish  man  as  merchant  aims  to  make  as  much  as 
he  can  out  of  his  customers  and  still  retain  their  trade 
against  competitors.  If  cheap  goods  will  bring  larger 
profits  and  more  frequent  sales  than  substantial  goods, 
cheap  goods  he  will  sell.  If  worthless  or  deleterious 
goods,  like  most  patent  medicines,  yield  the  largest 
margin  of  profit,  and  develop  a  habit  which  it  requires 
repeated  purchasing  to  satisfy,  those  he  will  advertise 
and  urge  his  customers  to  buy.  The  customer  in  every 
transaction  is  regarded,  not  as  a  man  to  be  served  to  the 
best  of  the  merchant's  ability  for  a  fair  return ;  but  as 
a  profit-producer  to  be  exploited.  "Let  the  buyer 
look  out  for  himself,  it  is  no  business  of  mine  to  look 
out  for  him,"  is  the  heartless  motto.  It  is  the  preacher's 
duty  to  show  that  merchant  that  he  is  nothing  more 
nor  less  than  a  legalized  pirate,  preying  on  the  neces- 
sities of  his  fellow-men.  The  preacher  very  likely 
does  not  know  enough  about  merchandising  to  tell 
the  merchant  just  how  much  profit  he  should  charge 


GOOD  WILL  IN  SECULAR  VOCATIONS:  SERVICE   1 19 

when  virtual  monopoly  gives  him  the  chance  to  charge 
what  he  pleases.  But  if  he  is  fit  to  be  a  preacher,  he 
does  know  what  the  spirit  and  attitude  of  a  merchant 
toward  his  customer  ought  to  be ;  and  he  will  not  allow 
that  merchant  to  be  comfortable  in  his  own  mind,  or 
well  esteemed  by  others,  unless  the  goods  he  sells,  the 
prices  he  charges,  are  determined  not  alone  by  the  pres- 
ence or  absence  of  effective  competition ;  but  by  a 
genuine  desire  to  serve  the  customer  by  giving  him  at 
a  price  fairly  representing  the  value  of  his  skill,  his  risk, 
his  capital,  his  labor,  the  commodity  that  customer 
desires.  That  is  what  it  means  to  preach  Good  Will 
to  a  merchant.  On  no  lower  terms  has  the  preacher 
the  right  to  assure  the  merchant  that  he  is  filling  his 
place  and  performing  his  function  as  Good  Will  requires. 
The  professional  man  takes  as  his  province  some  line 
of  service,  Law,  Medicine,  Religion,  which  involves 
for  its  thorough  comprehension  a  prolonged  training, 
and  a  developed  insight  which  the  laity  as  a  rule  cannot 
attain.  They  consequently  are  entirely  at  his  mercy; 
absolutely  dependent  on  his  skill,  integrity  and  honor 
for  the  soundness  and  worth  of  what  he  gives  them  in 
professional  service  and  advice.  Hence  the  professional 
man  must  be  one  of  two  things :  either  a  free  and  con- 
scious servant  of  Good  Will  as  it  applies  to  the  cases 


120          THE  GOSPEL  OF  GOOD  WILL 

with  which  he  professionally  deals ;  or  else  a  downright 
charlatan,  palming  off  under  the  protection  of  his  pro- 
fessional authority  not  merely  worthless  but  positively 
deleterious  substances  or  services.  The  temptation  to 
be  a  charlatan  is  at  times  very  strong.  It  is  cheap :  it 
is  profitable :  and  in  individual  cases  it  appears  easy  to 
escape  detection.  The  lawyer,  physician  or  minister 
who  has  not  felt  at  some  time  or  other  the  tempta- 
tion to  substitute  the  cheap  guess  for  the  costly 
certainty,  the  easy  evasion  for  the  expensive  solution 
of  a  hard  problem,  is  probably  rare.  Good  Will  in  the 
Christian  professional  man  involves  bringing  to  bear 
on  each  specific  case  the  fruits  of  the  world's  best  science 
and  skill  as  it  applies  to  that  case:  the  resolute  re- 
fusal to  offer  anything  less  than  the  best  one  is  capable 
of  acquiring  and  using.  The  Christian  professional 
man  is  thus  the  representative  of  Good  Will  in  some 
specific  sphere  not  easily  accessible  to  the  layman :  and 
he  is  bound  to  make  the  interest  of  patient,  client  or 
parishioner  his  own;  yes  more  than  his  own:  he  is 
bound  to  place  it  above  personal  profit,  convenience, 
reputation,  or  in  critical  cases  his  own  health  and  life. 
As  the  professed  representative  of  a  single  difficult 
phase  of  Good  Will,  he  must  see  that  that  Will  is  done, 
whatever  the  cost  to  himself.  The  Gospel  is  not  fully 


GOOD  WILL  IN  SECULAR'  VOCATIONS  :  SERVICE   121 

and  faithfully  preached  until  every  professional  man  in 
the  community  is  taught  to  measure  himself  by  the 
high  standard  of  doing  disinterestedly  and  devotedly 
all  that  Good  Will  requires  of  the  man  who  represents 
it  in  one  of  its  more  arduous  and  technical  forms. 

The  scientist  likewise  is  tempted  to  accept  hearsay 
and  tradition  for  first-hand  truth.  The  former  is  easy, 
cheap  and  respectable :  the  latter  is  hard,  expensive 
and  often  at  first  unpopular.  Formerly  this  duty  of 
truthfulness  on  the  part  of  the  scientist  was  not  ade- 
quately recognized;  and  the  easy  repetition  of  tradi- 
tion, the  cheap  adoption  of  respectable  error,  was 
thought  to  savor  of  orthodoxy.  Our  generation  has 
learned  the  lesson  that  Good  Will  is  at  the  same  time, 
especially  for  the  man  who  assumes  to  be  an  expert, 
the  will  to  truth ;  though  there  are  sections  of  the  world, 
and  branches  of  the  church,  where  Good  Will  is  still 
confounded  with  the  will  to  lie ;  if  the  lie  only  be  in  the 
interest  of  ecclesiastical  tradition.  Against  all  that 
the  preacher  must  set  his  face:  he  must  put  truth, 
however  unpopular,  however  unsettling,  however  ap- 
parently dangerous,  above  orthodoxy,  above  safety, 
above  immediate  comfortableness.  For  Good  Will 
cannot  permanently  be  promoted  by  falsehood;  and 
all  the  immediate  good  that  temporarily  seems  to  be 


122  THE   GOSPEL  OF   GOOD   WILL 

gained  by  pious  fraud  has  to  be  paid  for  when  ultimately 
the  truth  comes  out,  as  it  surely  will.  The  blame  for 
the  disillusion  and  doubt  the  truth  brings  attaches  not 
to  the  men  who  bring  the  truth,  but  to  the  men  who 
clung  so  long  to  error  —  and  taught  others  to  cling  to  it. 

The  preacher  must  rid  himself  of  beliefs  which  he 
holds  at  second  hand;  and  profess  to  believe  only  the 
things  which  he  sees  with  clearness  and  holds  in  sin- 
cerity. Any  make-believe  in  his  own  thinking  will 
betray  itself  in  a  tone  of  unconscious  insincerity  when 
he  attempts  to  influence  others.  It  would  be  easy  to 
name  whole  ecclesiastical  communions  whose  clerical 
utterances  on  certain  subjects  carry  to  the  candid  no 
conviction  whatever;  simply  because  we  feel  sure  that 
they  have  never  dared  to  be  frankly  candid  and  sincere 
with  themselves.  On  the  contrary  the  preacher  who  is 
the  conscious  servant  of  Good  Will,  becomes  so  fearless 
in  his  rejection  of  falsehood,  so  single-minded  toward 
the  truth,  so  transparently  honest  in  his  distinction 
between  what  he  is  sure  of,  and  what  he  is  uncertain 
about,  that  all  who  hear  him  catch  the  holy  contagion 
of  transparent  truthfulness. 

Special  pleading  or  elaborate  argument  in  the  pulpit 
seldom  convinces  anybody :  but  the  confident  assertion 
of  a  man  who  is  transparently  sincere  with  himself, 


GOOD   WILL  IN  SECULAR   VOCATIONS  :     SERVICE      123 

carries  weight  with  all  who  see  and  feel  his  sincerity. 
Historical  and  metaphysical  matters  may  be  doubtful: 
but  there  are  plenty  of  moral  and  spiritual  truths  to 
which  the  sincere  preacher  can  bear  convincing  testi- 
mony. The  preacher  who  lives  in  Good  Will  will 
never  be  tempted  to  the  impossible  task  of  trying  to 
convince  his  people  of  something  of  which  he  himself 
is  doubtful.  On  the  other  hand  mere  truthfulness  is 
only  one  special  section  of  the  total  sweep  of  Good  Will. 
It  would  be  easy  to  name  one  or  two  denominations  which 
have  so  prided  themselves  on  their  intellectual  sincerity 
that  they  have  lost  the  perspective  of  other  phases  of 
Good  Will,  like  charity,  modesty,  sympathy.  Truth- 
fulness for  the  scientist  is  vital :  and  if  he  fails  in  that 
point,  he  fails  totally.  But  for  the  ordinary  man,  truth- 
fulness is  merely  one  of  a  hundred  ways  in  which  Good 
Will  seeks  and  finds  expression. 

The  teacher's  temptation  is  not  so  much  to  falsehood ; 
as  to  indifference;  to  the  half  doing  of  his  work;  to 
thinking  that  because  he  has  "got  off"  something  in 
the  presence  of  the  learner,  therefore  the  learner  has 
learned:  whereas  the  getting  off  of  truth  is  only  the 
easy  end  of  teaching:  the  real  test  being  whether  the 
truth  is  brought  home  to  the  minds  of  the  pupils,  and 
there  appropriated  and  sympathetically  shared.  To 


124  THE   GOSPEL   OF   GOOD   WILL 

shirk  this  harder  task  is  the  great  temptation  of  the 
teacher;  one  into  which  a  teacher  without  conscious 
Good  Will  is  pretty  sure  to  fall. 

The  teacher  then  must  be  taught  to  see  teaching  as 
an  opportunity  to  put  truth  so  clearly,  convincingly, 
pictorially,  appreciatively,  sympathetically  that  the 
pupils  will  assimilate  and  organize  it  into  the  structure  of 
their  minds,  and  embrace  it  with  the  affection  of  their 
hearts.  The  preacher  must  know  and  feel,  and  make 
teachers  know  and  feel,  the  infinite  difference  between 
a  teacher  who  teaches  a  lesson  and  is  done  with  it 
when  it  is  off  his  mind,  and  a  teacher  who  lives  imagi- 
natively and  sympathetically  in  the  minds  of  his  pupils ; 
and  prepares,  presents,  reviews  and  examines  with  a 
view  to  the  effective  assimilation  and  organization  of 
truth  in  the  minds  of  the  pupils.  Only  the  latter 
teachers  enter  and  abide  through  their  vocation  in  Good 
Will.  Educational  officials,  like  presidents,  principals 
and  superintendents,  if  they  know  their  business,  will 
refuse  to  have  on  their  staff  of  teachers  any  men  or 
women  who  are  not  Christians  in  the  sense  of  being  the 
sympathetic  servants  of  their  pupils. 

Wealth,  the  product  of  past  and  the  control  over 
future  labor,  can  either  be  a  curse  or  a  blessing  to  its 
possessor  and  to  the  world.  Gained  unscrupulously; 


GOOD   WILL  IN   SECULAR  VOCATIONS:     SERVICE 

held  greedily ;  invested  recklessly ;  wielded  mercilessly ; 
spent  ostentatiously;  given  away  promiscuously;  it 
has  untold  power  to  harden,  and  hurt,  and  degrade.  To 
do  these  things  is  natural  and  the  line  of  least  resistance 
for  the  capitalist.  If  he  does  these  things  it  is  the 
preacher's  duty  to  denounce  him  as  the  enemy  of  Good 
Will.  On  the  other  hand  gained,  invested,  saved,  spent, 
given  in  such  ways  and  such  proportions  as  Good  Will 
demands,  capital  becomes  a  mighty  benefit  and  the 
capitalist  a  mighty  benefactor. 

The  preacher  may  not  be  enough  of  an  economist 
and  financier  to  tell  the  capitalist  in  detail  precisely  how 
to  avoid  the  curse  and  win  the  blessing  that  the  posses- 
sion and  use  of  capital  involves.  But  he  must  be  an 
expert  in  the  right  attitude  of  the  capitalist  toward  it. 
He  must  help  his  wealthy  men  to  offer  their  wealth 
conscientiously,  wisely,  disinterestedly  to  the  service  of 
Good  Will.  He  must  help  them  to  make  sure  that  the 
proportion  of  their  wealth  they  invest  in  productive  in- 
dustry will  do  more  good  so  invested,  than  it  would  if 
invested  in  other  forms  of  production ;  or  if  given,  or 
spent  on  himself  and  his  family.  The  rich  man  must  be 
sure  that  the  amount  of  money  spent  on  himself  and  his 
family  will  do  more  good  so  spent  than  it  would  if  invested 
or  given.  He  must  be  sure  that  the  money  he  gives 


126  THE   GOSPEL  OF   GOOD   WILL 

tends  to  do  more  good  so  given  than  it  would  if  given  in 
other  directions,  or  invested,  or  spent.  This  is  a  hard 
task ;  and  with  or  without  help  in  detail  from  the  preacher 
the  rich  man  is  pretty  sure  to  make  a  great  many  mis- 
takes. But  it  is  the  rich  man's  duty  to  make  this  effort ; 
and  the  preacher's  duty  to  keep  him  aware  that  only 
through  such  a  devotion  of  every  cent  he  has  to  the  most 
effective  service  of  Good  Will  can  he  win  the  blessing  and 
escape  the  curse  of  riches.  It  is  the  preacher's  task  to 
point  out  this  very  narrow  way  to  every  rich  man  in  his 
congregation ;  and  to  assure  him  that  while  to  unregen- 
erated  human  nature  such  a  disinterested  distribution 
of  one's  resources  is  impossible,  it  is,  at  least  in  intent 
and  aim,  not  only  possible  but  imperative  for  all  who 
have  Good  Will.  Giving  is  hard  to  the  man  whose 
will  is  merely  the  resultant  of  his  natural  desires.  Why 
should  he  give  "away"  —away  from  himself  —  what 
he  so  laboriously  has  won?  And  if  he  does  give,  there 
is  sure  to  be  some  self-centred  motive  behind  it;  "to 
be  seen  of  men" ;  or  to  get  rid  of  annoying  importunity. 
Good  Will  once  made  the  object  of  the  individual  will 
identifies  the  giver  with  the  person  or  cause  he  seeks 
to  help.  If  being  seen  to  give  will  incite  others  to  give 
too,  he  will  let  the  light  of  his  giving  shine:  not  for 
his  own  individual  glory,  but  that  Good  Will  may  be 


GOOD  WILL  IN  SECULAR  VOCATIONS:  SERVICE   127 

glorified  and  better  accomplished  through  other  generous 
hearts.  But  if  no  such  good  is  to  come  from  publicity, 
the  giver  who  gives  in  Good  Will  will  prefer  not  to  let 
his  left  hand  know  what  his  right  hand  doeth.  He  will 
be  so  intent  on  Good  Will ;  so  identified  with  its  aims, 
that  personal  mention  in  connection  with  it  would  be 
unwelcome,  because  distracting  attention  from  the  gift 
and  its  aim  to  the  giver  and  his  merits  —  a  very  minor 
consideration  in  the  mind  of  any  man  who  has  Good 
Will  at  heart. 

There  is  hardly  a  better  test  of  one's  progress  in  Good 
Will  than  this  —  whether  one  wishes  to  be  known  in  the 
matter  other  than  as  such  knowledge  strengthens  Good 
Will  in  others :  or  whether  one  regards  his  gift,  and  the 
good  it  may  do,  as  a  means  to  his  own  popularity  and 
reputation.  How  far  short  of  giving  from  Good  Will 
most  of  us  fall  may  be  seen  in  the  difference  in  size 
between  an  anonymous  gift  to  the  contribution  box, 
and  the  public  subscription  we  would  make  to  the  same 
cause. 

Shall  the  Christian  fight?  He  prefers  peace.  He 
will  not  fight  for  aggression  or  gain.  Yet  rather  than 
let  tyranny  oppress  the  weak,  arrogance  break  down  civ- 
ilization, lust  ravish  the  defenceless,  greed  exploit  the 
poor,  hypocrisy  block  the  way  to  Heaven,  the  man  who 


128          THE  GOSPEL  OF  GOOD  WILL 

is  animated  by  Good  Will  will  fight  with  the  army  and 
navy,  with  the  police  and  the  courts;  and  on  the  un- 
civilized frontier  with  his  revolver  and  his  own  right 
arm.  Yet  he  will  do  it  without  malice;  with  sorrow 
that  he  has  to;  with  forgiveness  at  the  first  sign  of 
penitence;  with  outstretched  hands  of  helpfulness 
the  instant  the  vanquished  surrender.  As  long  as  the 
motive  of  the  fighting  is  not  the  enemy's  harm  as  such ; 
but  the  repression  of  the  injustice  he  is  seeking  to  com- 
mit; fighting  is  not  merely  consistent  with,  it  becomes 
expressive  of  Good  Will,  which  is  the  essence  of  Chris- 
tianity. Incidental  injury  to  our  enemy,  if  it  is  merely 
incidental  to  doing  good  or  repressing  evil,  because  it 
is  not  made  the  prime  object  at  which  the  will  aims,  does 
not  vitiate  the  will.  Whoever  inflicts  injury  sincerely 
regretting  the  necessity  of  doing  so,  because  Good  Will 
requires  it,  becomes  therein  the  true  Christian  soldier. 
The  writer  who  writes  whatever  comes  into  his  head, 
regardless  of  its  effect  on  the  reader,  is  unchristian.  He 
wields  the  mighty  power  of  the  pen  to  the  wanton  injury 
of  multitudes  of  readers.  Some  incidental  injury  to 
the  immature  and  the  unprepared,  if  accepted  as  a 
regretted  necessity,  as  a  means  to  greater  goods  on 
the  whole,  is,  like  injury  inflicted  regretfully  in  war, 
consistent  with  and  expressive  of  Good  Will  and  there- 


GOOD   WILL  IN   SECULAR  VOCATIONS:     SERVICE      1 29 

fore  Christian.  But  harm  intentionally  done  for  fame 
or  gain,  in  indifference  or  self-conceit,  marks  a  writer 
as  anti-Christian  —  the  enemy  of  Good  Will. 

The  artist  in  sculpture,  painting  or  drama  is  subject 
to  the  same  test  as  the  writer.  Harm  done  incidentally 
with  reluctance  as  an  unavoidable  means  to  a  greater 
desirable  benefit  on  the  whole  is  not  only  permissible 
but  laudable.  Great  art,  like  nature,  is  bound  to  harm 
some  who  are  not  prepared  to  receive  it  worthily.  But 
no  artist  can  positively  will  that  harm,  or  fail  to  deplore 
it,  without  coming  under  the  condemnation  of  Good 
Will,  and  forfeiting  the  fellowship  of  those  who  share 
and  serve  it.  Beauty  is  a  large  element  in  that  good 
which  is  the  end  and  aim  of  Good  Will :  but  unless  the 
good  in  the  beauty  of  an  artistic  creation  is  clearly  greater 
to  those  who  behold  it  worthily  than  the  harm  to  those 
who  behold  it  unworthily,  the  work  of  art  and  the  artist 
who  creates  and  exhibits  it  is  an  enemy  of  Good  Will. 
For  while  good  and  beauty  to  a  great  extent  coincide, 
good  is  the  more  inclusive  term;  and  therefore  ulti- 
mately beauty  must  be  weighed  in  terms  of  good.  A 
work  of  art  which  has  as  its  foreseen  and  deliberately 
accepted  chief  result  the  stimulation  of  lust,  however 
beautiful,  is  an  unchristian  product;  and  excludes 
the  artist  who  creates  it  from  the  fellowship  of  Good 


130  THE   GOSPEL  OF   GOOD  WILL 

Will.  If  this  be  Puritanism  it  is  a  Puritanism  that  is 
as  old  and  noble  as  Plato  and  Aristotle  and  Jesus. 
Beauty  is  a  precious  thing;  but  offending  beauty  is 
condemned  by  all  who  have  Good  Will. 

Taxpaying  is  a  rather  searching  test  of  the  extent 
to  which  one  has  become  identified  with  Good  Will. 
The  man  who  is  living  in  his  own  will  as  supreme 
will  hate  his  taxes ;  dodge  them ;  make  private  deals 
with  the  assessors.  Between  him  and  the  public  wel- 
fare which  his  taxes  are  to  support  and  serve  there 
is  a  great  gulf  fixed,  deep  and  wide  as  the  gulf  be- 
tween hell  and  heaven  —  indeed,  profoundly  appre- 
hended it  is  that  very  gulf,  —  and  the  natural  will, 
unless  it  gets  across  on  some  such  shaky  bridge  as 
regard  for  reputation,  or  fear  of  fine  and  imprisonment, 
cannot  cross  it. 

Good  Will  spans  that  gulf  —  or  rather  for  it  the  gulf 
does  not  exist :  the  interests  of  the  public  and  the  inter- 
ests of  the  man  who  has  been  born  again  into  Good  Will 
become  identical;  and  the  bearing  of  his  fair  share  of 
the  public  burdens  is  to  such  a  man  a  positive  delight. 
He  takes  just  as  much  satisfaction  in  the  payment  of 
his  full  taxes  as  he  does  in 'buying  beef  steak  for  his 
family  or  a  suit  of  clothes  for  himself.  He  is  big  enough 
to  make  the  taxes,  and  the  services  they  perform, 


GOOD   WILL   IN   SECULAR  VOCATIONS:     SERVICE      131 

just  as  much  objects  of  his  will,  as  the  clothes  on  his 
back  or  the  food  on  his  table. 

The  office-holder  whose  will  is  the  resultant  of  his  own 
personal  interests  will  be  inefficient,  corrupt  and  corrupt- 
ing. It  takes  a  will  as  large  and  generous  as  Good  Will 
to  make  a  man  in  office  treat  that  office  as  a  trust  to  be 
executed  as  faithfully,  as  disinterestedly,  as  devotedly 
as  he  would  attend  to  his  private  affairs.  Good  Will 
in  office  as  the  Will  to  make  the  interests  of  the  state 
or  country  one's  own  will  be  a  frequent  theme  with  the 
true  preacher. 

Even  the  reformer,  if  he  be  not  in  his  reform  as  a 
service  to  Good  Will,  finds  himself  caring  more  for  his 
own  prominence  than  for  the  success  of  his  cause.  When 
the  men  who  are  satisfied  with,  and  are  profiting  by, 
the  abuses  he  attacks,  turn  upon  him  and  revile  him 
and  persecute  him,  he  will  weaken,  compromise,  "let 
up."  One  who  would  carry  through  to  a  successful 
issue  any  great  reform  must  be  patient,  persistent, 
brave,  magnanimous,  good-natured,  disinterested;  and 
these  qualities  come  and  stay  with  a  man  only  in  so  far 
as  he  makes  Good  Will  his  principle  of  action.  The 
preacher  may  not  always  be  able  to  say  in  detail  what 
reforms  are  wise  and  timely  and  what  are  visionary  and 
impracticable:  but  he  ought  to  be  an  authoritative 


132  THE   GOSPEL  OF   GOOD   WILL 

expert  on  the  motives  on  which  every  reformer  should 
prosecute  his  reforms;  and  the  interpreter  of  Good 
Will  as  it  applies  to  the  reformer's  personal  attitude  and 
temper. 

These  are  by  no  means  all  the  specific  vocations  and 
relations  in  which  a  man  stands ;  but  they  are  enough 
to  make  clear  the  vital  and  eternal  difference  between 
a  man  who  lives  his  life  and  does  his  work  from  himself, 
by  himself,  and  for  himself,  and  the  man  who,  wherever 
he  touches  the  world,  and  his  fellows,  tries  to  make  his 
conduct  expressive  of  Good  Will. 

To  keep  that  contrast  clear  before  the  minds,  warm 
within  the  hearts,  of  his  people  is  ever  the  preacher's 
mighty  duty,  and  the  layman's  stupendous  task.  In 
that  contrast  as  it  works  out  in  detail,  the  richness  and 
variety  of  which  has  been  only  suggested,  are  to  be 
found  the  stuff  for  scores  of  sermons.  No  preacher  who 
thinks  out  in  detail  that  eternal  difference  will  ever 
lack  for  vital  themes  on  which  to  preach. 

If  we  summarize  even  the  few  specimen  vocations  we 
have  considered  the  result  will  make  the  fundamental 
issue  clear,  and  show  the  Gospel  of  Good  Will  in  some- 
thing of  its  splendid  transforming  and  transfiguring 
power. 

Who  then  in  his  vocation  is  the  Christian?    He  is 


GOOD   WILL  IN   SECULAR   VOCATIONS:     SERVICE      133 

Whoever  as  worker  puts  the  thought  of  the  enjoyment 
of  the  consumer  alongside  the  thought  of  his  pay : 

Whoever  as  player  wants  the  best  man  to  win : 

Whoever  as  employer  ranks  the  wages  and  health  of 
his  workmen  on  a  level  with  profits  and  dividends: 

Whoever  as  employee  keeps  his  employer's  interest  as 
dearly  in  mind  as  his  own,  and  as  warmly  at  heart  as 
his  union's : 

Whoever  as  merchant  by  good  wares  at  fair  prices 
brings  producer  and  consumer  together : 

Whoever  as  professional  man  rates  the  character, 
health,  prosperity,  of  parishioners,  patients,  clients 
above  popularity,  station  or  fee : 

Whoever  as  scientist  prizes  truth  above  fame  or  gain : 

Whoever  as  teacher  enjoys  the  mental  growth  of  his 
students  more  than  the  spread  of  his  own  reputation : 

Whoever  as  owner  treats  his  wealth  as  a  liability  to 
be  invested,  spent  and  given  in  such  proportions  as  on 
the  whole  will  do  most  good : 

Whoever  as  giver  helps  the  recipients  to  become  in 
turn  also  givers : 

Whoever  as  fighter  maintains  good  will  toward  his 
enemies  on  all  points  save  the  few  on  which  he  believes 
them  to  be  wrong: 

Whoever  as  writer  makes  his  readers  love  good  and 
hate  evil : 


134'  THE   GOSPEL   OF   GOOD   WILL 

Whoever  as  artist  sets  things  as  they  are  in  the  fair 
light  of  things  as  they  should  be : 

Whoever  as  taxpayer  takes  positive  pleasure  in 
bearing  his  full,  fair  share  of  community  burdens : 

Whoever  as  citizen  votes  to  his  private  injury  when 
private  and  public  advantage  conflict : 

Whoever  as  office-holder  rates  efficiency  and  service 
above  honors  and  emoluments : 

Whoever  as  reformer  wins  the  hate  of  men  who  know 
him  for  the  sake  of  men  whom  he  never  will  know : 

Whoever  as  man,  wherever  he  touches  the  world, 
makes  his  fellow-men  and  himself  equal  objects  of  Good 
Will. 


THE  COST  OF  GOOD  WILL:    SACRIFICE 

"  She  will  have  left  an  inspiring  example  to  posterity.  She  has 
lost  everything,  but  she  has  saved  her  own  soul,  and  she  has 
saved  the  liberties  of  Europe."  CHARLES  SAROLEA,  How  Belgium 
Saved  Europe,  p.  194. 

THE  lesson  from  which  the  text  is  taken  is  too  long 
and  detailed  to  quote  at  length.  I  will  summarize  the 
substance  of  it :  giving  in  the  author's  own  words  only 
the  conclusion. 

Of  sacrifice  on  a  large  and  conspicuous  scale  there  is 
no  more  shining  modern  example  than  the  action  of 
Belgium  at  the  outbreak  of  the  great  war,  as  it  is  set 
forth  by  Sarolea  in  his  "How  Belgium  Saved  Europe." 
Territorially  the  smallest  nation  of  Europe ;  half  Flem- 
ish, half  Walloon;  half  plain,  half  mountain;  half 
agricultural,  half  manufacturing;  half  Catholic,  half 
agnostic;  neutral  and  protected  in  its  neutrality  by 
treaty;  this  nation  so  recently  ruled  by  the  execrable 
Leopold  II,  this  little  peace-loving  nation,  was  given 

135 


136  THE   GOSPEL  OF   GOOD   WILL 

the  twelve  hours  of  night  between  seven  in  the  evening 
and  seven  in  the  morning  to  make  the  most  momentous 
decision  in  all  her  history.  On  the  one  side  was  the 
promise,  if  the  word  of  a  treaty-breaking,  consciously 
wrong-doing  nation  can  be  called  a  promise,  of  the 
integrity  of  the  Belgian  kingdom,  prompt  evacuation 
of  her  territory  and  indemnification  for  damage.  On 
this  side  was  physical  life,  material  comfort  and  unin- 
terrupted prosperity.  On  the  other  side  was  the  horror 
of  an  unequal  war;  the  devastation  of  her  country  by 
a  policy  of  studied  and  systematic  frightf ulness ;  death 
for  thousands  of  her  sons ;  poverty,  starvation,  or  exile 
for  millions  of  her  citizens.  Yet  rather  than  sacrifice 
nationality  to  the  risk  of  absorption  by  an  aggressive, 
hateful  and  domineering  autocracy;  rather  than  sacri- 
fice treaty  rights  and  the  civilization  that  rests  upon 
them  to  the  ambitions  of  treaty-breaking  militarism, 
Belgium,  single-handed  and  unsupported  through  those 
terrible  days  of  August,  1914,  cheerfully,  unitedly, 
patriotically,  religiously  sacrificed  the  material  to  the 
spiritual ;  the  individual  to  the  social ;  the  national 
to  the  international;  and  gave  her  little  but  essential 
contribution  to  the  cause  of  humanity  and  liberty, 
democracy  and  essential  Christianity,  in  the  hour  of 
its  greatest  danger.  Belgium  has  suffered  the  loss  of 


THE   COST   OF   GOOD   WILL:      SACRIFICE  137 

all  things  —  all  save  her  soul.  But,  in  consequence  of 
her  sacrifice,  there  is  still  hope  for  the  cause  of  national 
liberty  and  international  honor;  there  is  still  hope  for 
a  peace  too  strong  in  the  alliance  of  federated  nations 
for  any  one  nation  however  autocratic  and  militaristic 
and  perverse  to  break ;  and  there  is  the  certainty  that 
little  Belgium  has  risen  to  rank  with  Palestine  and 
Greece  among  the  nations  whose  heroism  has  helped  to 
save  the  world,  advance  the  cause  of  civilization,  and 
reveal  anew  the  Godlike  capacities  of  our  common 
human  nature. 

Now  that  the  tremendous  sacrifice  in  blood  and  treas- 
ure, in  the  comforts  of  home  and  the  shrines  of  art  and 
religion  has  been  made,  we  can  all  see  that  through  this 
sacrifice  Belgium  has  won  a  far  more  exceeding  and 
eternal  weight  of  glory  than  could  have  come  through  a 
thousand  years  of  ease-loving  self-indulgence.  As  Mr. 
Sarolea  says :  — 

"In  order  to  understand  the  dogged  resistance  of  the 
Belgians  we  must  appeal  to  the  deepest  instincts  of 
man,  to  the  elemental  impulses  of  liberty,  and  perhaps 
still  more  must  we  appeal  to  the  higher  motives  of  out- 
raged justice,  to  the  moral  consciousness  of  right  and 
wrong.  Until  we  take  in  the  fact  that  from  the  begin- 
ning the  struggle  was  lifted  to  a  higher  plane,  we  shall 


138  THE   GOSPEL  OF   GOOD   WILL 

fail  to  understand  the  true  significance  of  the  war. 
From  the  beginning  the  war  was  to  the  Belgian  people 
much  more  than  a  national  war:  it  became  a  Holy 
War.  And  the  expression  'Holy'  War  must  be  under- 
stood not  as  a  mere  literary  phrase,  but  in  its  literal  and 
exact  definition.  The  Belgian  war  was  a  crusade  of 
Civilization  against  Barbarism,  of  eternal  right  against 
brute  force." 

"So  true  is  this  that  in  order  adequately  and  clearly 
to  realize  the  Belgian  attitude,  we  are  compelled  to 
illustrate  our  meaning  by  adducing  one  of  the  most 
mysterious  conceptions  of  our  Christian  religion,  the 
notion  of  vicarious  suffering.  In  theological  language, 
Belgium  suffered  vicariously  for  the  sake  of  Europe. 
She  bore  the  brunt  of  the  struggle.  She  was  left  over 
to  the  tender  mercies  of  the  invaders.  She  allowed 
herself  to  become  a  battlefield  in  order  that  France 
might  be  free  from  becoming  a  shambles.  She  had  to 
have  her  beautiful  capital  violated  in  order  that  the 
French  capitol  might  remain  inviolate.  She  had  to 
submit  to  vandalism  in  order  that  humanity  elsewhere 
might  be  vindicated.  Belgium  will  have  lost  every- 
thing. The  material  damage,  the  destruction  of  thou- 
sands of  cities  and  villages,  the  total  collapse  of  industry 
and  trade  are  incalculable.  The  damage  to  the  monu- 


THE   COST   OF   GOOD   WILL  :    SACRIFICE  139 

ments,  sacred  to  art  and  religion,  is  not  only  incalcu- 
lable but  irreparable.  The  sufferings  inflicted  upon 
millions  of  people  baffle  imagination,  but  the  moral  and 
spiritual  gain  is  equally  inestimable.  Belgium  will 
have  proved  to  all  the  world  her  determination  and  her 
right  to  exist  as  a  free  nation.  She  will  have  earned 
the  sympathy  and  admiration  of  the  whole  world.  She 
will  have  left  an  inspiring  example  to  posterity.  She 
has  lost  everything,  but  she  has  saved  her  own  soul; 
and  she  has  saved  the  liberties  of  Europe." 

If  newspaper  correspondents  and  secular  writers 
rise  to  the  heights  of  such  a  spiritual  interpretation  of 
current  events,  the  Christian  preacher  cannot  afford 
to  preach  sacrifice  as  merely  an  exceptional  ancient 
transaction :  he  must  measure  the  life  of  men  and  na- 
tions to-day  by  the  same  high  standard,  and  proclaim 
an  ever  deepening  and  widening  sacrifice. 

The  principle  of  sacrifice  is  as  fundamental  and  uni- 
versal as  the  laws  of  arithmetic.  It  is  inherent  in  the 
very  nature  of  choice :  which  cannot  take  one  of  two 
or  more  alternatives  without  sacrificing  the  others. 
We  have  already  seen  that  sin  is  the  sacrifice  of  the 
greater  to  the  lesser  good  ;  and  that  service  involves  the 
sacrifice  of  the  lesser  to  the  greater  good.  In  every 
specific  form  of  service  there  is  latent  or  explicit  the 


140  THE   GOSPEL   OF   GOOD   WILL 

sacrifice  of  some  minor  competing  goods.  Under  the 
names  of  temperance  —  the  cutting  off  of  competing 
pleasure,  and  courage  —  the  taking  on  of  incidental  pain, 
the  Greeks  taught  the  same  lesson.  Without  sacrifice 
it  is  impossible  to  choose:  impossible  to  take  a  single 
step  in  moral  and  spiritual  living. 

Yet  fundamental  and  universal  as  sacrifice  is  in  the 
spiritual  life,  it  should  never  be  presented  as  an  end  in 
itself,  nor  carried  beyond  the  limits  set  by  Good  Will. 
For  Good  Will  cares  for  us  no  less  than  for  those  we  serve ; 
and  sacrifice  beyond  the  point  reasonable  and  efficient 
service  requires  is  sour  and  silly  asceticism.  Hence 
preaching  and  practice  should  always  emphasize,  not 
the  lesser  good  foregone,  but  the  greater  good  achieved. 
Still  sacrifice  is  so  essential  to  the  service  of  Good  Will, 
and  so  likely  to  be  either  underdone  or  overdone,  that 
its  universal  necessity  and  its  reasonable  limits  will  be 
the  frequent  theme  of  the  preacher.  And  we  shall  get  a 
concrete  and  vital,  as  distinct  from  abstract  and  theoret- 
ical insight  into  the  laws  and  the  limits  of  sacrifice  if  at 
the  outset  we  follow,  even  at  the  risk  of  partial  repeti- 
tion, some  of  the  same  relations  as  in  the  previous  chapter 
on  service  :  drawing  out  in  each  case  the  sacrifice  that  is 
latent  in  the  service ;  and  showing  how  the  efficiency  of 
the  service  sets  a  limit  to  the  extent  of  the  sacrifice. 


THE   COST   OF   GOOD   WILL:    SACRIFICE  141 

The  worker  who  does  his  work  with  an  eye  to  the 
consumer's  benefit,  will  have  to  sacrifice  in  labor  the 
difference  between  the  amount  required  to  make  a  poor 
article  that  will  barely  "get  by,"  and  a  standard  article 
that  is  sound,  durable,  and  serviceable.  That  difference 
measures  the  portion  of  the  Cross  of  Christ  he  has  to 
bear. 

On  the  other  hand,  to  do  one's  work  so  nicely  that 
one  loses  on  every  contract,  cannot  afford  to  buy  tools, 
cannot  pay  his  bills,  as  is  the  case  with  the  over-con- 
scientious carpenter  who  planes  both  side  of  plank  for 
a  plank  walk,  or  the  housewife  who  keeps  house  so 
immaculately  that  she  has  no  time  or  strength  left  to 
entertain,  is  to  defeat  in  large  measure  the  very  ends 
at  which  reasonable  sacrifice  aims.  To  give  all  the 
work  Good  Will  requires  in  its  consideration  of  the 
benefits  of  our  work  to  customer  and  consumer,  and  to 
stop  working  precisely  when  that  point  is  reached,  is 
the  fine  art  of  the  Christian  worker's  sacrifice  in  con- 
nection with  his  work. 

The  player  who  plays  fair  sacrifices  a  good  many 
games  he  might  win  by  unfair  means.  That  is  his 
part  of  the  Cross  of  Christ.  Yet  it  is  a  mistake  to  go 
as  far  as  one  eminent  university  president  did  in  dis- 
countenancing curved  pitching  on  the  ground  that  it 


142  THE   GOSPEL   OF   GOOD   WILL 

was  intended  to  deceive  the  batter.  Strategy  with  its 
incidental  deception  is  an  essential  part  of  such  games 
as  baseball  and  football:  and  to  cut  that  out  would 
defeat  the  whole  object  and  enjoyment  of  the  game. 
When  the  theater,  dancing,  cards,  billiards  in  any 
particular  community  have  become  so  misused  that 
their  predominant  effect  on  those  who  participate  in 
them  is  degrading  and  demoralizing,  it  may  then  and 
there  be  part  of  the  sacrifice  Good  Will  requires  to  give 
them  up.  But  wherever  they  can  be  reclaimed  to  their 
legitimate  uses  of  recreation  and  wholesome  social  inter- 
course, then  their  reclamation  rather  than  their  renuncia- 
tion is  the  more  acceptable  sacrifice  to  Good  Will.  The 
use  and  enjoyment  of  these  amusements  up  to  the  point 
where  they  predominantly  injure  others  or  ourselves, 
is  a  much  finer  and  harder  Christian  art  than  either 
their  excessive  indulgence  or  their  total  repudiation. 

The  Christian  employer  of  labor  must  sacrifice  what- 
ever part  of  his  profits  and  his  time  is  necessary  to  make 
his  relations  with  his  employees  brotherly  and  sym- 
pathetic; the  conditions  of  their  work  sanitary;  and 
their  remuneration  just.  No  employer  can  enjoy  Good 
WTill  on  less  sacrificial  terms. 

At  the  same  time  he  is  not  called  upon  ordinarily  to 
give  his  employees  so  much  that  he  bankrupts  his  busi- 


THE   COST   OF   GOOD  WILL:   SACRIFICE  143 

ness;  fails  to  provide  for  lean  years,  depreciation,  and 
fluctuations  in  demand.  He  is  not  called  ordinarily  to 
be  so  extremely  sacrificial  that  he  ceases  to  be  an 
employer  and  becomes  an  employee.  To  remain  an 
employer  and  still  be  a  Christian;  at  least  until  there 
is  a  radical  revolution  in  our  methods  of  production  and 
distribution,  is  the  fine  art  which  Good  Will  requires  of 
the  Christian  employer.  The  preacher  as  a  rule  does 
not  know  enough  about  manufacturing  and  merchan- 
dising to  draw  that  fine  line  where  reasonable  sacrifice 
ends  and  suicidal  bankruptcy  begins :  but  he  should 
know  enough  about  the  sacrificial  principle  and  its 
limitations  to  help  the  Christian  employer  to  draw 
that  line  for  himself  and  his  business  as  Good  Will 
directs. 

The  Christian  employee  as  his  part  of  the  cross  of 
Christ  must  give  up  sabotage,  soldiering,  malingering; 
all  malice  and  uncharitableness  toward  his  employer. 
He  must  regard  his  employer  as  a  brother  whose  inter- 
ests are  as  precious  to  him  as  his  own.  Good  Will, 
however,  does  not  call  upon  him  to  take  whatever  wages 
and  submit  to  whatever  conditions  his  employer,  whether 
individual  or  corporation,  may  seek  to  impose  upon 
him.  Good  Will  includes  the  workingman's  rights  as 
well  as  his  duties ;  and  warrants  him  in  insisting  on  the 


144  THE   GOSPEL   OF  GOOD   WILL 

right  to  unite;  the  right  to  collective  bargaining;  the 
right  to  compensation  for  accident;  and  the  right  to 
decent  conditions  of  labor.  It  is  better  for  society  and 
better  for  the  employer  in  the  long  run,  as  well  as  better 
for  the  workingman  that  he  should  have  these  rights: 
and  the  preacher  of  Good  Will  is  bound  to  stand  by  him 
and  encourage  him  in  all  reasonable  and  unmalicious 
ways  in  which  he  seeks  to  secure  and  maintain  his  rights. 
Needless  oppression;  needlessly  low  wages;  needless 
unsanitary  conditions  of  labor  are  no  part  of  the  cross 
Good  Will  imposes  on  the  workingman.  It  asks  no 
workingman  to  be  content  with  his  wages  unless  those 
wages  represent  under  prevailing  conditions  his  fair 
share  of  the  combined  product  of  labor,  capital,  risk, 
and  skill  of  superintendence.  And  it  does  not  require 
him  to  be  content  with  prevailing  conditions,  if  he  is  — 
not  sentimentally  desirous  —  but  reasonably  sure  of  a 
practicable  better  economic  order  which  would  give 
fairer  distribution  without  vastly  lessened  production. 
All  the  workingman  is  called  upon  to  sacrifice  is  his 
laziness,  his  selfishness,  his  malice,  his  hostility,  his 
recklessness  and  irresponsibility.  Whatever  Good  Will 
for  him,  for  his  employer,  and  for  society  per- 
mits, he  is  at  liberty  to  pursue  with  all  his  might. 
Only  what  Good  Will  forbids  toward  society,  toward 


THE   COST   OF   GOOD   WILL:   SACRIFICE  145 

his  employer,    toward   himself,   is   he   as   a   Christian 
employee  called  on  to  forego. 

The  Christian  merchant's  share  in  the  cross  of  Christ 
is  the  sacrifice  of  all  profits  over  and  above  his  fair  reward 
for  bringing  commodities  to  the  customer  at  the  time  and 
place,  of  the  quality  and  quantity  desired.  Such  re- 
ward must  include  interest  on  capital,  risk,  loss  on  unsold 
goods  and  bad  bills,  skill,  taste,  and  many  other  things 
besides  the  money  and  labor  cost  of  keeping  and  selling 
the  articles  sold.  But  extra  profits  on  inferior  goods: 
extra  profits  on  misrepresentation;  extra  profits  on 
taking  unfair  advantage  of  monopoly  or  the  customer's 
ignorance ;  extra  profits  secured  in  any  way  which  in- 
volves treating  the  customer  in  a  way  he  would  not  be 
willing  to  be  treated  if  he  knew  all  the  facts :  extra 
profits  in  short  due  to  any  act  or  attitude  inconsistent 
with  Good  Will  toward  both  merchant  and  customer, 
the  merchant  must  forego  who  would  live  as  a  Christian 
in  the  fellowship  of  Good  Will.  The  banker,  the  land- 
lord, the  promoter,  all  who  exchange  one  valuable  thing 
or  certificate  of  value  for  another  come  under  this  search- 
ing requirement  of  the  Christian  merchant.  To  sell 
for  more  than,  all  things  justly  and  broadly  considered, 
the  buyer  would  willingly  pay ;  in  other  words  for  more 
than  Good  Will  would  have  him  pay ;  is  to  cease  to  be 


146  THE   GOSPEL   OF   GOOD   WILL 

a  Christian.  But  that  requirement,  severe  and  search- 
ing as  it  is,  leaves  ample  room  for  large  returns  for  large 
and  valuable  service  in  the  difficult  spheres  of  exchange 
and  distribution.  Even  on  these  terms  a  Christian 
merchant  may  make  a  great  deal  of  money.  Good 
Will  gives  him  his  just  dues. 

Judged  by  Christian  standards,  in  the  light  of  Good 
Will,  there  is  not  the  sharp  difference  between  the  pro- 
fessional man  and  the  ordinary  laborer  or  business  man 
which  is  usually  drawn.  Like  every  worker  and  trader 
the  lawyer,  physician  or  preacher  is  bound  by  Good  Will 
to  give  for  a  fair  and  reasonable  fee  or  salary  his  best 
services.  The  only  difference  is  as  we  have  seen  that 
the  professional  man,  by  virtue  of  his  long  and  costly 
technical  training,  is  an  expert,  while  his  clients,  patients 
and  parishioners  are  not :  and  consequently  they  cannot 
judge  as  readily  as  the  buyer  of  ordinary  goods  and 
services  whether  or  not  they  are  getting  the  best  that 
skill  and  diligence  can  give  them,  on  terms  which,  count- 
ing cost,  preparation  and  quality  of  service,  are  fair  and 
reasonable.  For  that  they  are  mainly  dependent  on 
the  honor  of  the  professional  man.  In  that  sense,  and 
in  that  only,  the  professions  are  more  honorable  —  re- 
quire and  deserve  on  the  average  a  higher  type  of  honor 
—  than  other  vocations.  All  workers,  laborers,  mer- 


THE  COST  OF  GOOD  WILL:  SACRIFICE      147 

chants,  manufacturers,  professional  men,  to  be  Chris- 
tians, must  charge  for  their  services  what  Good  Will  for 
all  concerned  allows.  But  since  those  concerned  have 
not  as  adequate  ability  to  check  up  the  quality  of  the 
services  and  the  reasonableness  of  the  charges  of  the 
professional  man,  as  they  have  in  the  case  of  non-pro- 
fessional workers,  the  professional  man  therefore  stands 
to  that  extent  in  a  little  more  intimate  responsibility  to 
Good  Will.  If  he  is  not  a  Christian,  Good  Will  fails 
more  completely  of  being  done,  and  with  less  oppor- 
tunity for  redress,  than  if  non-professional  men  in  their 
vocations  are  disobedient.  The  professional  man,  how- 
ever, is  himself  an  object  as  well  as  a  subject  of  Good 
Will,  and  reasonable  provision  for  his  own  comfort,  and 
the  dignity  of  his  profession,  is  part  of  his  Christian 
service. 

The  scientist  has  his  specific  cross.  Formerly  astro- 
nomical, geological,  biological  truth;  to-day  economic, 
political,  social  truth,  is  frequently  unpopular ;  clashing 
with  ancient  prejudices,  vested  interests,  the  mental 
inertia  of  the  aged  and  the  well-to-do.  There  are  places 
where  the  speaking  of  the  truth  would  deprive  a  man  of 
his  professor's  chair,  his  pulpit,  his  political  office,  his 
reputation,  his  livelihood.  The  man  who  holds  any  of 
these  things  above  truth  has  no  part  or  lot  in  Good  Will. 


148  THE   GOSPEL   OF   GOOD   WILL 

When  a  scholar's  views  clash  with  tradition,  preju- 
dice, or  profit,  the  sacrifice  of  everything  inconsistent 
with  the  truth  as  he  sees  it,  even  if  it  be  his  reputation, 
his  position,  his  living,  must  be  made  cheerfully  and 
bravely  as  the  price  of  continued  fellowship  with  Good 
Will,  with  Christ,  and  with  all  sincere  Christian  men. 
The  scholar,  however,  is  not  under  obligation  to  carry 
a  chip  on  his  shoulder,  and  provoke  popular  animosity 
by  defiant  proclamation  in  aggressive  form  of  every  new 
view  he  comes  to  hold. 

The  teacher,  the  educational  administrator,  has  a 
heavy  cross  to  bear.  Many  schools,  many  so-called 
Christian  colleges  even,  are  honeycombed  with  shirk- 
ing, superficiality,  compromise,  unreality,  inefficiency, 
favoritism,  slipshod  ways  of  instruction,  finance  and 
management.  Good  Will  requires  every  teacher,  super- 
intendent, principal,  president  so  to  carry  its  intellectual 
and  moral  standards;  the  genuine  training  of  the  stu- 
dents ;  and  the  service  to  the  community  through  them, 
on  mind  and  heart,  that  whatever  loss  of  popularity, 
loss  of  numbers,  loss  of  athletic  prominence  those  stand- 
ards and  that  training  for  service  require  will  be  cheer- 
fully borne  as  the  price  of  being  Christian.  Most 
teachers  in  schools  and  many  teachers  in  colleges  have 
an  amount  and  conditions  of  work  put  upon  them  which 


THE   COST  OF   GOOD   WILL:   SACRIFICE  149 

are  inconsistent  with  giving  their  individual  pupils 
all  that  they  really  need.  But  whoever  as  teacher 
accepts  as  his  or  her  ideal  anything  less  than  the  best 
for  those  pupils  his  time,  training,  strength  and  execu- 
tive ability  enables  him  to  give,  becomes  thereby  un- 
christian. Judged  by  what  Good  Will  requires  adminis- 
trator and  teacher  to  do  for  their  pupils,  and  for  society 
through  them,  Christian  schools  and  colleges  are  still 
as  rare  as  the  sacrifices  required  to  make  them  truly 
Christian  are  costly.  At  the  same  time  the  Christian 
teacher  is  not  called  upon  to  kill  himself  by  overwork ; 
still  less  by  worry.  Good  Will  includes  the  teacher's 
welfare. 

The  cross  of  the  rich  Christian,  as  Jesus  pointed  out, 
is  a  peculiarly  heavy  one.  To  make  his  money  service- 
able to  Good  Will  involves  so  much  weighing  of  the 
worth  of  one  investment  against  another ;  of  one  bene- 
faction against  another;  of  one  expenditure  against 
another;  and  of  each  investment  against  all  benefac- 
tions and  expenditures;  of  each  benefaction  against 
all  investments  and  expenditures ;  and  of  each  expendi- 
ture against  all  investments  and  benefactions,  that  those 
of  us  who  have  little  wealth  may  well  breathe  a  sigh  of 
relief.  For  not  until  the  amounts  and  proportions  of 
all  these  uses  of  property  are  —  not  infallibly,  for  that 


150  THE   GOSPEL  OF   GOOD   WILL 

is  impossible  —  but  conscientiously  determined  as  Good 
Will  for  all  concerned  directs,  can  the  rich  man  fully  enter 
or  remain  in  the  Kingdom  of  Good  Will.  Investments 
that  depend  for  profits  on  hard  or  dishonest  dealings, 
benefactions  prompted  by  relief  from  importunity  or 
desire  for  popularity,  expenditures  on  self  and  family 
that  do  not  represent  in  happiness  and  efficiency  more 
value  not  only  to  them  but  to  the  world  than  would 
any  practicable  alternative,  shut  the  door  of  the  King- 
dom of  Good  Will  in  the  rich  man's  face.  Having  more 
than  others,  he  is  called  to  sacrifice  more:  for  apart 
from  sacrifice  no  man  can  see  God,  or  know  Christ, 
or  have  fellowship  with  men  and  women  who  are  really 
Christian. 

At  the  same  time  the  rich  Christian  is  not  ordinarily 
called  upon  to  give  away  all  his  goods.  That  would 
be  a  much  easier  and  a  much  more  useless  and  mischiev- 
ous act  in  most  cases,  than  to  use  them  in  proportionate 
service.  Good  Will  includes  the  rich  man's  usefulness 
and  happiness ;  and  reasonable  care  for  that  is  part  of 
his  Christian  task. 

Whoever  gives  and  is  known  to  give  assumes  a  seri- 
ous sacrifice  of  which  the  money  given  is  often  the  least 
serious  part.  Multitudes  of  beggars,  agents,  repre- 
sentatives of  benevolent  causes  swoop  down  upon  him ; 


THE   COST  OF   GOOD   WILL:    SACRIFICE  151 

and  if  he  will  give  according  to  Good  Will,  he  must  sift 
these  claims,  dividing  the  unworthy  from  the  worthy, 
making  a  scale  of  those  which  through  merit,  propin- 
quity or  affinity  with  his  own  intelligent  interest,  should 
take  precedence.  He  will  have  to  say  "no"  oftener 
than  "yes."  He  will  get  more  criticism  than  gratitude  ; 
yet  he  must  take  it  all  good-naturedly  and  continue  to 
give.  For  complaint,  ingratitude,  misunderstanding,  is 
the  price  every  giver  has  to  pay  for  giving  not  where  it 
is  easiest  and  most  popular;  but  where  his  judgment, 
interest  and  location  make  it  possible  to  do  most  good 
and  least  harm. 

Promiscuous,  indiscriminate  giving  almost  always  does 
far  more  harm  than  good.  The  benefactor  himself, 
as  well  as  his  beneficiaries,  is  dear  to  Good  Will  and  is 
justified  in  protecting  himself  against  perpetual  impor- 
tunity, and  the  damage  that  giving  without  careful 
investigation  into  need,  character  and  efficiency  is 
almost  sure  to  do.  A  little  given  discriminatingly  and 
wisely  is  much  more  acceptable  than  much  given  promis- 
cuously and  foolishly.  The  preacher,  at  the  same  time 
that  he  trains  his  wealthy  and  poor  alike  to  give  as  an 
inescapable  part  of  their  sacrifice  to  Good  Will,  must 
do  all  in  his  power  to  protect  them  from  irresponsible 
agents,  lazy  loafers,  organizations  that  beg  money  and 


152  THE   GOSPEL  OF   GOOD   WILL 

maintain  officers  for  obsolete  or  fantastic  ends,  and 
institutions  that  seek  endowment  in  order  to  grow 
bigger  rather  than  to  be  content  with  doing  better 
the  modest  task  to  which  their  present  funds  are  ad- 
equate. 

The  sacrifice  of  the  Christian  soldier,  in  addition  to 
those  which  are  inherent  in  the  profession,  and  which 
every  soldier  must  make,  is  the  repression  of  all  malice 
toward  those  whom  he  fights.  Good  Will  permits  no 
"Song  of  hate";  but  requires  that  the  hands  be  out- 
.stretched  in  helpfulness  to  the  enemy  the  instant  he 
surrenders.  As  long  as  evil  men  and  nations  bring  on 
unjust  wars,  good  men  and  nations  must  stand  ready 
to  fight  in  self-defence  and  in  defence  of  humanity  and 
civilization :  and  while  Good  Will  sets  limits  to  hate 
and  malice  it  sets  none  to  the  energy  and  efficiency  with 
which  unavoidable  war  while  it  lasts  shall  be  prosecuted. 
A  man  or  nation,  however,  that  fights  where  arbitration 
is  a  practicable  substitute  for  war,  fails  utterly  of  the 
sacrificial  spirit  which  is  essential  to  fellowship  in  Good 
Will. 

The  writer  and  the  artist  are  called  to  sacrifice  the 
easy  gain  and  cheap  fame  which  can  be  had  by  any  writer 
or  artist  of  mediocre  ability  who  will  play  on  the  preju- 
dice or  inflame  the  passions  of  blind  and  brutal  men. 


THE   COST  OF   GOOD   WILL:    SACRIFICE  153 

Fame  and  gain  come  to  the  true  artist  and  author; 
but  there  are  stages  in  their  careers  when  they  must 
take  less  of  these  for  the  sake  of  more  beauty,  truth, 
purity  and  love.  Apart  from  such  sacrifice,  actual  at 
some  time,  potential  at  all  times,  no  poet,  painter, 
sculptor,  can  be  spiritually  great. 

This  however  is  not  to  say  that  harm  to  some  may 
not  be  part,  and  a  legitimate  and  inevitable  part,  of 
strong,  brave  handling  of  unpleasant  facts.  If  the 
creative  God  in  his  Good  Will  permits  incidental  evil, 
as  we  well  know  he  does,  the  creative  artist  and  author 
cannot  expect  to  escape  the  same  conditions  and  the 
same  necessity.  Evil  that  is  not  chosen  for  its  own  sake, 
but  accepted  as  the  condition  of  greater  good  on  the 
whole  is  no  more  culpable  in  the  human  artist  than  in 
the  divine.  This  limitation  on  the  sacrifice  of  artist 
and  author  leaves  him  all  the  freedom  in  his  art  a  great 
artist  needs  and  a  good  artist  wants. 

Sacrifice  is  an  element  in  all  personal  relations.  The 
deeper  the  relation,  the  higher  the  sacrifice.  A  friend 
is  a  second  self :  he  doubles  our  joys  and  multiplies  our 
interests.  But  his  problems  at  the  same  time  become 
our  problems  :  his  burdens  our  burdens  :  his  disabilities 
our  disabilities :  his  failings  our  failings :  to  be  shared 
in  sympathy,  and  removed  by  helpfulness.  Friendship 


154  THE   GOSPEL  OF   GOOD   WILL 

that  seeks  only  gain  is  not  friendship,  but  selfishness 
posing  in  friendship's  attire.  The  preacher  must  hold 
his  people  up  to  this  sacrificial  side  of  their  friendships 
and  affections. 

The  lover  who  lives  and  loves  in  Good  Will  must 
sacrifice  all  gratifications  of  passion  that  are  inconsistent 
with  the  orderly  and  decent  life  of  family  and  society ; 
that  would  rob  woman  of  her  self-respect  and  social 
standing,  and  children  of  their  birthright  of  physical 
health  in  a  pure  and  happy  home.  In  youth,  and  in  the 
bachelorhood  prolonged  by  the  necessity  of  getting  an 
economic  footing  before  a  family  can  be  supported,  this 
sacrifice,  where  the  opportunities  for  indulgence  are  wide 
open  and  importunate ;  where  strain  of  work  is  intense ; 
and  hours  of  leisure  are  either  empty  or  filled  with  recre- 
ations that  are  suggestive  and  stimulative  of  passion, 
this  sacrifice  often  seems  a  very  heavy  one  to  pay,  day 
after  day,  year  after  year,  through  the  period  when 
physical  vigor  is  at  its  maximum.  Good  Will  however 
requires  it :  on  no  easier  terms  can  Christian  fellowship, 
and  the  complete  self-respect  that  goes  with  it,  be  had. 
All  honor  to  the  splendid  fellows,  more  numerous  hi 
America  to-day  than  anywhere  else  in  the  world,  or  ever 
before,  who  have  the  strength  and  self-control  to  pay 
that  heavy  price!  They  are  God's  chosen  ones  who 


THE   COST   OF  GOOD   WILL:    SACRIFICE  155 

bear  the  brunt  of  civilization's  battle  with  our  unelimi- 
nated  brutality. 

In  our  admiration  and  our  sympathy  we  must  never 
forget  or  let  them  forget,  that  love  in  all  its  expressions 
is  intrinsically  good,  not  evil:  and  we  must  work  by 
hospitality,  social  centers,  wholesome  and  happy  oppor- 
tunities for  intimacy  between  young  men  and  young 
women  to  make  life  before  marriage  as  normal  as  possible, 
and  early  marriage  the  privilege  of  as  many  as  possible. 
It  is  not  love  or  passion,  or  the  natural  attraction  of  the 
sexes  for  each  other  that  we  are  called  upon  to  sacrifice ; 
but  its  cruel  perversions.  To  pure  love  that  blesses 
all  it  touches  there  is  no  limit  set  by  God's  Good  Will  or 
man's  just  laws. 

When  friendship  and  love  pass  into  marriage  and 
found  the  family,  the  joy  and  gladness  of  life  reach  their 
highest  point.  Well-married  husbands  and  wives  come 
closest  to  heaven.  But  with  the  gladness  come  sorrows  : 
with  the  joy,  and  as  its  counterpart,  come  the  greatest 
sacrifices  one  is  ever  called  on  to  make :  harder  in  some 
respects  even  than  the  sacrifice  of  the  soldier  when  he 
enlists  for  war.  For  when  two  persons  rightly  marry, 
each  gives  up  not  only  exclusive  ownership  in  the  income 
of  his  property :  but  himself  as  a  self-sufficient  inde- 
pendent being.  Henceforth,  his  property,  however  the 


156  THE  GOSPEL  OF  GOOD  WILL 

legal  title  may  run,  is  common  property:  his  inter- 
ests are  predominantly  common  interests :  his  life  is 
a  common  life :  what  is  good  for  both  is  the  aim  of  each. 
Expenditures  of  time,  money,  strength:  indulgences 
in  amusements  and  recreation:  risks  in  enterprise  and 
investment  which  before  were  pardonable  or  even  praise- 
worthy, now  in  competition  with  common  interests 
and  responsibilities  become  undesirable  and  even  cul- 
pable. The  glory  of  the  new  conjunct  life  condemns 
pretty  much  all  that  is  exclusive  in  the  old  individualistic 
life.  Both  the  man  and  the  woman  have  become  not 
merely  new  creatures;  but  one  new  creature  in  whom 
neither  retains  the  old  self. 

The  ideal  of  this  relation  is  to  have  all  things  hi  com- 
mon: talking  over  expenditures,  undertakings,  pleas- 
ures, duties,  until  the  will  of  both  is  expressed  in 
every  act  and  interest  of  each.  The  next  best  thing, 
often  the  best  practicable,  is  that  the  mutual  interest 
shall  be  acknowledged  once  for  all  in  general  terms: 
and  then  by  allowances  of  money :  free  disposal  of  time : 
liberty  in  forming  circles  of  acquaintance :  opportunity 
for  all  kinds  of  social  life :  each  shall  trust  the  other,  and 
be  trusted  in  turn,  to  work  out  the  details  of  such  indi- 
vidual self-expression  as  shall  enrich  the  common  life: 
and  to  renounce  such  ambitions,  whether  of  clubs,  or 


THE  COST  OF  GOOD  WILL:  SACRIFICE      157 

dissipations,  or  speculations,  as  are  merely  divisive  and 
tangential:  taking  one  out  of  the  family  life  in  a  way 
or  to  an  extent  inconsistent  with  enriched  and  enriching 
return. 

The  preacher  should  make  his  people  appreciate, 
expect  and  prepare  for  this  strain  of  readjustment  as 
an  inevitable  part  of  the  blessedness  of  married  life. 
And  in  individual  cases  that  seek  or  will  accept  his 
pastoral  counsel  he  should  help  them  and  hold  them  to 
this  inevitable  sacrifice  as  the  noble  and  costly  side  of 
the  relation  which  he  expects  them  to  be  too  strong  and 
brave  to  shirk  in  selfish  querulousness,  or  evade  in  cow- 
ardly divorce. 

Our  greatest,  if  not  our  deepest  blessings,  come 
through  our  country:  its  institutions,  its  laws,  its 
liberties,  its  protection  of  person  and  property.  Here 
again  sacrifices  commensurate  with  these  great  boons  are 
required  of  every  person  who  worthily  receives  them. 
Cheerful  payment  of  one's  full  fair  share  of  taxes; 
generous  devotion  of  time  and  strength  to  the  formation 
and  promulgation  of  sound  policies;  faithful  work  at 
the  primaries  and  the  polls ;  readiness  at  personal  cost 
to  seek  and  hold  office  oneself ;  help  to  put  the  right  men 
into  office  and  to  keep  the  wrong  men  out,  are  the  least 
a  man  of  Good  Will  should  do  as  a  citizen. 


158  THE   GOSPEL   OF   GOOD   WILL 

Finally  as  the  crown  and  consummation  of  this  practi- 
cal devotion,  day  after  day,  year  after  year,  in  times  of 
peace,  comes  the  duty  and  privilege  and  glory  of  giving 
his  life,  or  the  life  of  husband  or  son,  to  the  service  of 
his  country  in  just  and  righteous  war.  The  man  of 
Good  Will  however  must  rise  higher  than  nationalism 
in  his  patriotism.  President  Wilson  at  the  close  of  his 
message  in  December,  1915,  called  attention  to  the  new 
era  on  which  we  have  entered.  It  is  the  era  hi  which 
we  have  had  the  greatness  of  world-concerns  thrust 
upon  our  attention.  We  cannot  think  world-thoughts 
worthily  without  being  prepared  for  whatever  sacri- 
fice our  world-responsibilities  may  call.  Not  hi  readi- 
ness for  aggression  or  insolent  interference  in  the  affairs 
of  other  nations:  but  in  sympathy  for  all  who  are  in 
disorder  and  oppression,  we  must  be  strong  enough 
to  render  our  reasonable  and  proportionate  service; 
by  peace  wherever  peaceful  arbitration  is  possible: 
by  war  wherever  righteous  war  is  unavoidable.  The 
nation  that  lives  up  to  the  Gospel  of  Good  Will  must 
accept  the  perpetual  sacrifice  which  world-wide  responsi- 
bility involves.  On  no  easier  or  cheaper  terms  can  any 
nation  rise  from  nominal  to  vital  Christianity.  The 
more  we  prepare  for  war  in  this  spirit,  the  more  zeal- 
ous shall  we  be  to  avoid  war,  and  wherever  possible  to 


THE   COST   OF   GOOD   WILL:    SACRIFICE  159 

establish  justice  through  arbitration  and  treaty.  Here 
as  everywhere  sacrifice  is  not  made  for  itself.  The 
fearful  sacrifice  of  war  is  one  to  be  prepared  for  at  all 
times :  but  actually  to  be  made  only  when  every  device 
of  patience,  remonstrance,  arbitration,  and  negotiation 
has  proved  unavailing.  To  have  military  power  is 
a  national  necessity:  to  use  it  save  as  a  last  desperate 
resort  is  a  national  disgrace. 

The  Gospel  of  Good  Will  requires  the  Nation  to  bring 
reasonable  military  preparedness  to  the  altar:  but  it 
bids  the  nation  search  earnestly  in  the  thicket  for  the 
tangled  ram  of  such  conciliation  as  will  save  the  actual 
sacrifice  of  its  sons  on  the  red  altar  of  war.  Every 
Christian  nation  must  stand  ready  to  do  what  Belgium 
did  in  1914.  But  we  hope  and  pray  that  the  spread  of 
the  Gospel  of  Good  Will  may  render  the  actual  offering 
of  so  costly  a  sacrifice  never  again  a  national  necessity. 
Sacrifice  in  every  case  is  the  obverse  of  service:  the 
price  we  have  to  pay  in  private  loss  for  personal  or 
social  gain.  That  price  must  be  paid  in  each  case  up 
to  the  limit  where  more  sacrifice  would  involve  less 
effective  service;  and  less  efficiency  of  the  servant  for 
future  service.  All  the  wealth  and  popularity  that  can 
be  maintained  without  compromise  of  principle  it  is  the 
Christian's  duty  to  secure  and  maintain.  For  Good 


l6o          THE  GOSPEL  OF  GOOD  WILL 

Will  includes  him  along  with  his  country,  his  constitu- 
ents, his  cause :  and  justifies  him  in  taking  for  himself 
such  remuneration  and  support  as  is  not  inconsistent 
with  the  best  good  of  others  and  of  all. 

The  supreme  sacrifice  is  that  of  Jesus  Christ:  and 
it  was  made,  like  our  sacrifices,  in  loyalty  to  his  vocation 
and  his  personal  relationships.  He  felt  called  to  preach 
the  Gospel  of  Good  Will  in  a  community  and  an  age 
where  formalism,  legalism,  Pharisaism  were  on  the 
throne.  To  preach  effectively  this  Gospel  under  these 
conditions  was  to  bring  down  on  his  head  the  hatred, 
jealousy  and  spite  of  those  who  were  wedded  to  and 
profiting  by  these  false  gospels.  By  keeping  quiet, 
or  by  confining  his  ministry  to  remote  rural  regions,  he 
could  have  escaped  the  enmity  of  the  rulers  at  the 
nation's  capital.  Such  a  policy  of  self-protection,  how- 
ever, would  have  made  him  false  to  his  calling ;  unfaithful 
to  the  unshepherded  sheep  on  whose  superstitions  the 
formalistic  wolves  were  all  too  prone  to  prey.  He 
refused  to  save  himself  by  sacrificing  the  truth,  and 
sacrificing  his  fellow-men  who  were  entitled  to  hear 
the  truth  from  his  lips,  and  see  it  in  his  life.  In  fidelity 
to  his  vocation  as  the  Son  of  Man,  the  typical  repre- 
sentative of  humanity,  the  Savior  of  the  world,  he  pro- 
claimed his  truth  boldly,  aggressively,  persistently; 


THE  COST  OF  GOOD  WILL:  SACRIFICE      l6l 

and  sacrificed  his  life  to  do  it.  So  long  as  he  could  teach 
it  more  effectively  by  living  than  by  dying,  he  post- 
poned his  trip  to  Jerusalem;  and  escaped  out  of  the 
midst  of  his  enemies.  But  when  open  attack  at  the  cost 
of  his  life  was  the  most  effective  witness  against  error 
and  for  truth,  he  did  not  flinch  from  drinking  the  full 
cup  of  torture,  ignominy,  and  death.  True  to  his 
vocation  as  revealer  and  teacher  of  the  highest  spiritual 
truth,  he  laid  down  his  life.  For  the  full  enjoyment  of 
that  Gospel,  and  its  diffused  spirit  and  multiplied  fruits 
throughout  the  world,  we  are  indebted  to  him  and  to 
his  sacrifice.  The  preacher  is  abundantly  justified 
in  making  that  sacrifice  the  central  theme  in  his  preach- 
ing, provided  he  preaches  it  not  merely  as  a  sacrifice 
made  once  for  all  to  appease  an  estranged  God ;  but  a 
sacrifice  we  must  all  repeat  in  faithful  and  heroic  devo- 
tion to  our  daily  tasks  and  social  relationships. 


VI 

BY-PRODUCTS  OF  GOOD  WILL:   THE  CHRISTIAN 
VIRTUES 

"My  religion  is  very  simple.  I  love  God  and  all  my  brothers." 
CHARLES  RANK  KENNEDY,  The  Servant  in  the  Home,  p.  22. 

THESE  words  of  our  text  are  spoken  by  Manson,  who 
represents  Christ.  He  comes  into  the  Vicar's  household 
in  the  disguise  of  a  servant,  and  in  the  regular  course 
of  his  service,  and  the  conversations  incidental  to  it, 
separates  in  that  household  the  sheep  from  the  goats. 
The  text  contains  his  separating  principle.  If  Good 
Will  for  all  your  brothers  is  your  aim  you  go  to  his  right 
hand.  If  honors  and  emoluments,  promotions  and 
preferments  for  yourself  are  your  aim,  then  even  though 
those  honors  and  emoluments  happen  to  be  ecclesiasti- 
cal, your  place  is  on  the  left,  and  your  destination  the 
outer  darkness. 

There  is  in  the  play  only  one  hopelessly  lost  soul  — 
only  one  that  even  Christ  can't  save.  He  is  James 
Ponsonby  Makeshyfte,  D.D.,  the  Most  Reverend  the 

162 


BY-PRODUCTS   OF   GOOD   WILL  163 

Lord  Bishop  of  Lancashire.  And  why  can't  Christ 
save  him?  Why  does  he  turn  him  out  of  the  house? 
Because  his  real  motto  is:  "Give  as  little,  and  grab  as 
much  as  we  can" ;  because  there  are  spheres  of  human 
Good  which  he  despises;  because  he  is  unwilling  to 
sit  at  the  table  with  a  working-man ;  because  he  fails 
to  include  in  his  idea  of  good  the  welfare  of  the  work- 
ing-man ;  because  his  will  is  no  bigger  than  his  personal 
interests,  and  the  dignities  and  emoluments  of  his  eccle- 
siastical office.  A  man  can't  be  as  little  as  that,  and 
share  in  the  fellowship  of  Manson,  Christ.  For  Christ's 
fellowship  is  not  primarily  an  affair  of  learned  lore, 
stained-glass  windows,  and  ecclesiastical  millinery:  all 
of  which  the  Bishop  has  in  abundance:  it  is  genuine 
love  of  God  and  all  his  brothers,  which  the  Bishop 
utterly  lacks. 

The  Vicar,  the  Reverend  William  Smythe,  is  half 
lost,  half  saved :  and  in  the  end  is  saved  so  as  by  fire. 
He  has  climbed  to  ecclesiastical  preferment  by  taking 
unfair  advantage  of  his  poor  brother  whom  he  drove 
to  a  life  of  dissipation:  and  by  listening  to  the  false 
and  foolish  advice  of  his  ambitious  wife,  who  loves  him 
more  than  she  loves  God,  and  is  more  anxious  to  see  him 
win  a  great  reputation  as  scholar  and  preacher  and 
churchman  than  to  see  him  doing  the  greatest  good  to 


1 64  THE   GOSPEL   OF   GOOD  WILL 

his  people.  There  is  this  sign  of  genuineness  about  him, 
however,  that  he  heartily  despises  the  Bishop,  and  can't 
endure  to  have  the  old  hypocrite  around  poisoning  the 
air  of  his  house.  Under  Manson's  influence  he  becomes 
sincerely  sorry  for  the  wrong  he  has  done  his  dissolute 
brother,  Robert  Smith,  a  humble  scavenger.  In  the 
end  he  shakes  off  the  selfishly  ambitious  influence  of  his 
too  fond  wife,  joins  his  humble  brother  in  doing  the 
disagreeable  and  dirty  work  of  cleaning  out  the  church 
drain,  because  that  happens  to  be  what  the  people  really 
need  to  have  done.  His  repudiation  of  his  wife's  bale- 
ful influence  is  the  turning  point.  She  cares  nothing 
for  his  real  usefulness,  everything  for  his  preferment, 
as  comes  out  in  their  conversation. 

AUNTIE 
(Now  thoroughly  afraid.}     What  do  you  mean  by  the 

truth,  William? 

VICAR 

I  mean  this :  What  is  the  building  of  this  church  to 
you?  Are  you  so  mightily  interested  in  architecture, 
in  clerical  usefulness,  in  the  furtherance  of  God's  work? 

AUNTIE 

I  am  interested  in  your  work,  William.  Do  you  take 
me  for  an  atheist? 


BY-PRODUCTS  OF  GOOD  WILL  165 

VICAR 

No :  far  worse  —  for  an  idolater ! 

AUNTIE 

William  — 

VICAR 

What  else  but  idolatry  is  this  precious  husband-wor- 
ship you  have  set  up  in  your  heart  —  you  and  all  the 
women  of  your  kind  ?  You  barter  away  your  own  souls 
in  the  service  of  it :  you  build  up  your  idols  in  the  fashion 
of  your  own  respectable  desires:  you  struggle  silently 
amongst  yourselves,  one  against  another,  to  push  your 
own  god  foremost  in  the  miserable  little  pantheon  of 
prigs  and  hypocrites  you  have  created ! 

AUNTIE 
(Roused.}    It  is  for  your  own  good  we  do  it ! 

VICAR 

Our  own  good !  What  have  you  made  of  me  ?  You 
have  plucked  me  down  from  whatever  native  godhead 
I  had  by  gift  of  heaven,  and  hewed  and  hacked  me  into 
the  semblance  of  your  own  idolatrous  imagination !  By 
God,  it  shall  go  on  no  longer !  If  you  have  made  me  less 
than  a  man,  at  least  I  will  prove  myself  to  be  a  priest ! 

AUNTIE 
Do  you  call  it  a  priest's  work  to — 


1 66       THE  GOSPEL  OF  GOOD  WILL 

VICAR 

It  is  my  work  to  deliver  you  and  me  from  the  bondage 
of  lies !  Can't  you  see,  woman,  that  God  and  Mammon 
are  about  us,  fighting  for  our  souls? 

AUNTIE 
(Determinedly.)    Listen    to   me,    William,    listen   to 

me  — 

VICAR 

I  have  listened  to  you  too  long ! 

AUNTIE 
You  would  always  take  my  counsel  before  — 

VICAR 

All  that  is  done  with  !  I  am  resolved  to  be  a  free  man 
from  this  hour  —  free  of  lies,  free  of  love  if  needs  be, 
free  even  of  you,  free  of  everything  that  clogs  and  hin- 
ders me  in  the  work  I  have  to  do !  I  will  do  my  own 

deed,  not  yours ! 

AUNTIE 

(With  deadly  quietness.)  If  I  were  not  certain  of  one 
thing,  I  could  never  forgive  you  for  those  cruel  words: 
William,  this  is  some  madness  of  sin  that  has  seized  you  : 
it  is  the  temptation  of  the  devil ! 

VICAR 
It  is  the  call  of  God ! 


BY-PRODUCTS   OF   GOOD   WILL  167 

Yet  even  the  ambitious  wife  is  saved  after  much 
protestation.  When  the  Vicar  finally  joins  his  humble 
brother,  takes  off  his  coat  and  sets  about  the  dirty  and 
dangerous  work  of  cleaning  out  the  drain,  she  is  brought 
to  give  him  her  blessing,  "God's  might  go  with  you, 
William!  Accept  him,  Christ!"  and  she  is  last  seen 
taking  with  one  hand  her  husband's  hand,  and  with  her 
other  hand  the  hand  of  his  humble  and  formerly  wronged 
and  despised  scavenger  brother,  so  that  the  three  form 
a  kind  of  cross. 

The  real  church  Manson  or  Christ  is  building,  the 
church  Robert,  the  drain-digger,  belongs  to,  the  church 
to  which  he  and  Manson  win  his  Vicar  brother  and  his 
ambitious  wife,  "ain't  psalms,  and  'ymns  and  old  maids' 
tea  parties,  mind  you";  it  is  "no  dead  pile  of  stones 
and  unmeaning  timber;  no  aggregation  of  Gothic 
arches  and  stained-glass  windows." 

"When  you  enter  it  you  hear  a  sound  as  of  some  mighty 
poem  chanted.  Listen  long  enough,  and  you  will  learn 
that  it  is  made  up  of  the  beating  of  human  hearts,  of 
the  nameless  music  of  men's  souls  —  that  is,  if  you  have 
ears.  If  you  have  eyes,  you  will  presently  see  the 
church  itself  —  a  looming  mystery  of  many  shapes 
and  shadows,  leaping  sheer  from  floor  to  dome;  the 
work  of  no  ordinary  builder ! 


1 68  THE   GOSPEL  OF   GOOD   WILL 

"  The  pillars  of  it  go  up  like  the  brawny  trunks  of  he- 
roes :  the  sweet  human  flesh  of  men  and  women  is  moulded 
about  its  bulwarks,  strong,  impregnable:  the  faces  of 
little  children  laugh  out  from  every  cornerstone:  the 
terrible  spans  and  arches  of  it  are  the  joined  hands  of 
comrades;  and  up  in  the  heights  and  spaces  there  are 
inscribed  the  numberless  musings  of  all  the  dreamers  of 
the  world.  It  is  yet  building  —  building  and  built 
upon.  Sometimes  the  work  goes  forward  in  deep  dark- 
ness: sometimes  in  blinding  light:  now  beneath  the 
burden  of  unutterable  anguish:  now  to  the  tune  of  a 
great  laughter  and  heroic  shoutings  like  the  cry  of 
thunder.  Sometimes  in  the  silence  of  the  night-time 
one  may  hear  the  tiny  hammerings  of  the  comrades 
at  work  up  in  the  dome  —  the  comrades  that  have 
climbed  ahead." 

Robert  Smith,  the  dissipated  scavenger  brother, 
understands  and  is  drawn  to  that  church.  "I  think 
I  begin  to  understand  you,  comride,  especially  that  bit 
abaht  the  'ammerins  an'  the  harches.  S'pose  there's 
drain  'ands  wanted  in  that  there  church  o'  yours?" 
He  goes  in  to  dig  the  drains.  With  all  his  bad  record 
he  has  two  redeeming  traits.  He  is  tender  to  his  long- 
lost,  new-found  daughter,  and  he  works  —  works  for 
the  good  he  can  do.  "I  work  —  and  work  well ;  that's 


BY-PRODUCTS   OF   GOOD    WILL  169 

more  than  some  of  'em  can  say  —  and  I  don't  get  much 
money  for  it  either."  When  reminded  by  the  Vicar 
of  the  stench  and  horror  and  darkness  of  his  drain  dig- 
ging, he  replies,  "What's  it  matter,  if  the  comrides 
up  above  'av'  light  an'  joy  an'  a  breath  of  'olesome  air 
to  sing  by?  'Igh  in  the  dome,  the  'ammerins  of  the 
comrides  as  'av'  climbed  aloft !  "  And  when  the  Vicar 
in  deepest  penitence  says,  "I  call  myself  nothing:  I 
am  nothing  —  less  than  nothing  in  all  this  living  world," 
Robert,  proud  of  the  place  in  the  service  of  the  whole 
his  humble  vocation  gives  him,  exclaims,  "But  I 
call  myself  summat  —  I'm  the  DRAIN-MAN,  that's  what 
I  am."  His  place  and  function  of  service,  his  humble 
share  in  doing  God's  Good  Will,  makes  him  brother  of 
Manson,  the  Servant  in  the  House  —  Christ. 

That  is  a  Gospel  every  right-minded  man  in  the  world 
accepts  as  soon  as  he  clearly  sees  it.  Of  course  it  is 
hard  to  give  a  twenty-minute  sermon  the  clearness  and 
force  of  a  well-acted  two-and-a-half-hours  play.  But 
if  we  take  the  same  theme;  show  the  greatness  and 
glory  of  Good  Will  however  humbly  done;  we  shall 
get  something  of  that  response  which  this  great  play 
wherever  presented  has  evoked.  Good  Will,  whether  in 
a  play  or  sermon,  is  the  only  thing  big  enough  to  make 
a  thoughtful  man  give  all  his  little  self  possesses  in  happy 


1 70          THE  GOSPEL  OF  GOOD  WILL 

whole-hearted  exchange.  All  the  Christian  virtues  flow 
out  of  this  love  for  God  and  all  one's  brothers:  this 
devotion  to  their  real  good  regardless  of  the  honors 
and  emoluments  one's  service  to  them  may  involve. 

Christian  character,  and  all  its  constituent  virtues, 
are  by-products  of  living  in  Good  Will.  To  aim  at 
character  directly;  to  cultivate  the  Christian  virtues 
like  Benjamin  Franklin,  giving  one  day  to  patience, 
another  to  chastity,  another  to  generosity,  is  to  miss 
altogether  the  Christian  point  of  view,  and  become  a 
conceited  prig.  If  we  trust  and  serve  Good  Will,  all 
these  graces  will  come  trooping  after  us.  But  if  sought 
directly  they  fly  beyond  our  reach. 

The  most  characteristic  Christian  virtue  is  modesty; 
or  as  the  New  Testament  calls  it  meekness,  humility, 
poverty  of  spirit,  not  being  puffed  up.  One  who  sees 
how  vast  is  Good  Will;  what  splendid  achievements 
it  is  making ;  and  how  much  remains  to  be  done ;  will 
come  to  see  how  small  and  how  imperfect  is  his  little 
contribution  to  the  great  whole.  A  young  Christian, 
like  a  novice  at  any  work  or  sport,  may  be  filled  with 
self-importance,  and  say  and  do  things  to  show  off  his 
newly  acquired  accomplishments.  But  it  is  the  sure 
mark  of  the  novice  —  this  self-centered,  self-conscious 
air  of  importance  and  superiority.  He  who  has  come 


BY-PRODUCTS    OF    GOOD   WILL  17 1 

to  admire  Good  Will  in  Christ  and  his  fellow- Christians, 
and  has  learned  to  measure  himself  by  that  perfect 
standard,  will  understand  how  far  his  best  achieve- 
ments fall  short  of  it;  and  will  be  modest  as  a  matter 
of  course ;  as  the  inevitable  corollary  of  the  plain  fact 
of  his  manifold  shortcomings.  Whoever  like  the  Bishop 
in  the  play  is  proud  and  puffed  up,  has  failed  to  see  Good 
Will  and  his  own  true  place  far  below  its  high  require- 
ments. To  cultivate  modesty  directly  is  impossible: 
for  the  more  we  think  we  have  of  it,  the  less  modest  we 
are.  But  Good  Will,  by  its  contrast  with  our  imperfect 
wills,  induces  modesty.  The  preacher  will  teach  his 
people  to  measure  themselves  and  each  other  by  that 
searching  standard. 

Purity  of  heart  is  likewise  directly  unattainable. 
The  more  we  dwell  on  it,  the  more  we  are  conscious  by 
contrasts  of  the  lusts  over  which  purity  is  the  victory. 
Dwelling  on  it  even  for  the  purpose  of  preaching  it  to 
others  is  spiritually  ultra-hazardous.  The  more  we 
think  about  purity  the  less  pure  we  become.  As  Pascal 
says,  "Few  persons  think  of  modesty  modestly,  or  of 
chastity  chastely."  On  the  contrary,  if  we  live  in  Good 
Will  for  all  men  and  women,  out  of  that  thought  will 
flow  a  reverent  and  tender  regard  for  all  that  concerns 
their  welfare :  most  tender  and  most  reverent  in  refer- 


172  THE   GOSPEL   OF   GOOD   WILL 

ence  to  those  sacred  instincts  and  functions  on  which 
the  perpetuation  of  the  race  through  the  union  of  the 
sexes  is  so  beautifully  based.  The  Christian  preacher 
will  seek  purity  for  his  people,  not  by  exhortation  to  it, 
but  by  deepening  their  reverence  for  Good  Will  in  its 
provision  for  love  as  the  fountain  of  life. 

Gentleness  is  a  sickly,  sentimental  affair  when  culti- 
vated for  its  own  sake ;  and  marks  the  mollycoddle  and 
the  sissy.  Hard,  coarse,  rough  brutality  is  more  manly. 
But  the  gentleness  that  comes  of  keeping  before  one's 
eyes  and  in  one's  heart  Good  Will  is  strong  and  firm. 
It  refuses  to  hurt  another's  feelings,  not  from  fear  or 
weakness,  but  because  that  other  person  is  a  child  of 
the  Father,  a  brother  or  sister  of  Christ,  an  actual  or 
potential  agent  of  Good  Will.  To  harm  another  by 
word  or  deed  is  to  hurt  what  is  dear  to  oneself  —  a  stupid 
contradiction.  From  one  in  whom  Good  Will  dwells, 
no  harsh  act,  no  cross  look,  no  cruel  word  will  come: 
because  such  acts  and  looks  and  words  contradict  the 
Good  Will  which  is  one's  inmost  principle  of  life.  To 
be  sure  we  have  lapses  here  more  than  elsewhere;  for 
our  looks  and  tones  and  acts  reflect  too  often  not  what 
we  permanently  mean  to  be ;  but  what  we  lapse  into  in 
unguarded  moments.  Yet  if  these  be  promptly  fol- 
lowed by  repentance  and  the  request  for  forgiveness, 


'BY-PRODUCTS    OF   GOOD   WILL  173 

they  cannot  destroy  the  gentleness  which  is  what  every 
disciple  of  Good  Will  seeks  to  express.  The  preacher, 
then,  will  preach  not  gentleness  directly ;  but  the  devo- 
tion to  Good  Will  out  of  which  gentleness  inevitably 
flows. 

Charitableness  likewise,  when  cultivated  directly, 
is  an  easy-going,  indifferent,  almost  effeminate  quality. 
But  when  it  comes  as  the  result  of  living  in  Good  Will 
for  others,  it  is  at  once  keenly  critical  and  kindly  merci- 
ful toward  their  faults  and  failings.  The  Christian  sees 
in  his  brother's  failing  a  defeat  of  Good  Will  for  him: 
and  he  cannot  help  being  sorry,  and  hoping  for  better 
things  next  time.  He  cannot  rejoice  in  another's  iniq- 
uity ;  both  he  and  his  brother  are  included  in  the  Good 
Will  which  it  is  his  precious  privilege  to  serve.  Good 
Will  therefore  is  the  seed  of  which  charitableness  is  the 
fruit. 

Cheerfulness,  or  as  the  New  Testament  calls  it,  hope, 
is  another  Christian  grace  which  the  preacher  cannot 
profitably  exhort  his  people  to  cultivate,  but  which  will 
surely  follow  wherever  Good  Will  is  preached  persua- 
sively. Accident,  sickness,  poverty,  loneliness,  unpopu- 
larity, failure,  sin,  bereavement,  death  —  one  or  more 
of  these  evils  confront  us  most  of  the  time:  no  one 
can  escape  them  altogether.  Earthquake,  tornado,  vol- 


174  THE   GOSPEL  OF   GOOD   WILL 

cano,  conflagration,  flood,  insect  pests,  war,  unemploy- 
ment, over-production,  imperfect  distribution,  robbery, 
theft,  failure  of  employers  or  debtors,  breakdown  of 
character  of  those  in  whom  our  lives  are"  bound  up, 
events  wholly  or  largely  beyond  our  foresight  and  con- 
trol, bring  upon  us  suffering  and  loss.  If  we  are  merely 
children  of  nature,  desiring  the  good  things  these  mis- 
fortunes take  away,  then  we  shall  be  at  the  mercy  of 
these  accidents,  bereft  and  comfortless. 

The  Christian  preacher,  however,  offers  the  sufferer 
a  chance  to  serve  and  share  Good  Will.  Here  in  human 
history,  in  human  hearts,  in  human  homes,  in  Christ 
and  the  spirit  of  Christian  men  and  women,  in  ourselves 
so  far  as  we  are  Christian,  we  see,  and  taste,  and  touch 
and  handle  a  Good  Will  which  would  not  willingly  sub- 
ject those  whom  it  loves  to  suffering.  This  is  the  best 
thing  we  know  in  the  world.  Therefore  we  believe 
it  is  the  purpose  for  which  the  world  was  made.  We 
know  that  we  cannot  shield  those  we  love  from  all  these 
incidental  and  accidental  evils.  We  do  not  know  or 
believe  that  God  could  do  it  in  a  world  like  this,  where 
finite  forces  follow  their  own  unvarying  laws,  and  finite 
wills  follow  their  own  always  imperfect  and  often  per- 
verse devices.  Good  Will  is  not  omnipotent  in  the 
sense  that  it  can  produce  any  specific  result  it  pleases, 


BY-PRODUCTS    OF   GOOD   WILL  175 

regardless  of  the  conditions  of  life  in  a  rational  and  law- 
abiding  world.  Prayer  which  rests  on  and  fosters  that 
delusion  is  perverse ;  fatal  to  true  worship  and  rational 
comfort.  If  getting  what  we  happen  to  want  out  of 
an  arbitrarily  omnipotent  God  is  the  kind  of  comfort 
his  people  crave,  then  the  frank  and  honest  thing  for  the 
preacher  to  say  is  that  there  is  no  such  comfort  to  be 
had ;  and  the  persons  who  are  weak  and  foolish  enough 
to  ask  for  it,  would  not  be  worthy  of  it,  even  if  it  were 
to  be  had.  No :  God's  Good  Will  is  conditioned  by  the 
rational  laws  of  its  own  uniform  and  beneficent  opera- 
tion. It  can  achieve  supernatural  results;  but  they 
are  supernatural  in  the  sense  of  being  above  what  the 
merely  natural  heart  of  man  could  accomplish ;  not  in 
being  above  what  law  will  permit. 

Good  Will  is  still  at  work  in  the  world  and  at  war  with 
evil,  even  when  evil  strikes  us  most  severely.  It  is 
blessing  others,  even  when  in  some  few  particular  re- 
spects the  general  order  it  permits  hurts  us:  and  we 
can  rejoice  in  its  blessing  of  others ;  help  it  on ;  and  so 
share  its  outgoing  to  others ;  be  its  agents ;  have  it  in 
our  hearts.  And  if  we  are  fruitful,  and  keep  on  having 
Good  Will  toward  others ;  in  due  time  others  who  have 
Good  Will,  will  recognize  a  kindred  spirit  in  us  and 
welcome  us  as  brothers  and  sisters  in  its  fellowship  and 


176  THE   GOSPEL  OF   GOOD   WILL 

service.  Giving  it  to  others ;  receiving  it  from  others  in 
return;  we  shall  live  more  and  more  in  it;  and  thus 
become  more  and  more  sure  of  it.  Whatever  accident 
or  evil  man  may  take  away,  this  experience  of  being 
both  object  and  subject  of  Good  Will  remains,  and  grows. 
We  can  be  for  Good  Will  at  all  times :  and  we  can  be 
assured  that  Good  Will  at  all  times  is  for  us:  and  if 
that  be  for  us,  and  we  for  it;  nothing  that  happens 
can  be  effectively  against  us,  or  separate  us  from  our 
fellowship  with  God,  with  Christ  and  with  our  fellow- 
Christians.  We  can  join  hands  in  cleaning  out  the  drains, 
like  the  saved  souls  in  the  play :  and  in  doing  it  we  can 
be  as  happy  as  Robert  Smith. 

To  be  sure  this  fellowship  in  Good  Will  cannot  readily 
be  extemporized  in  time  of  trouble.  Those  who  are 
not  ready  when  the  invitation  comes  cannot  go  in  to 
the  feast.  Those  who  desired  only  things,  and  lose  those 
things  they  desired,  lose  all ;  and  naturally  are  comfort- 
less. But  those  who,  with  the  things  they  had,  also 
had  Good  Will  as  the  spirit  of  their  lives;  doing  its 
service,  sharing  with  others  its  fellowship,  have  some- 
thing so  much  better  than  things,  while  they  have  things, 
that  the  best  part  of  their  life  remains  when  the  things 
they  had  are  by  accident  or  misfortune  taken  away. 
To  purchase  this  pearl  of  great  price  they  are  willing  to 


BY-PRODUCTS    OF   GOOD   WILL  177 

part  with  all  their  other  possessions.  No  misfortunes 
can  leave  him  bereft  who  keeps  Good  Will  in  his  own 
heart;  and  shares  with  and  receives  from  others  this 
same  precious  treasure. 

Sickness  may  take  away  certain  powers  and  forms 
through  which  one  has  expressed  and  enjoyed  Good 
Will :  but  it  cannot  rob  one  who  really  has  Good  Will 
in  his  own  heart,  and  rejoices  to  recognize  it  in  the 
hearts  of  his  fellows,  of  this  his  most  valued  possession. 
Indeed  sickness  often  brings  out  within  one  a  devotion 
to  and  appreciation  of  Good  Will  which  health,  and 
the  absorption  in  routine  health  permitted,  had  failed 
to  develop.  Health  can  express  Good  Will  hi  most 
ways  so  much  more  effectively  than  sickness,  either 
acute  or  chronic,  that  one  who  has  it  in  his  heart 
will  take  every  reasonable  precaution  to  be  well  and 
keep  well.  Yet  when  sickness  comes,  whether  from 
exposure,  or  overstrain,  or  contagion,  or  one's  own  folly, 
he  will  find  in  more  patient  cheerfulness;  in  increased 
gratitude ;  in  deepened  tenderness,  ways  in  which  he  may 
in  part  make  up,  and  sometimes  more  than  make  up, 
for  the  forms  of  serving  Good  Will  which  the  sickness 
has  rendered  temporarily  or  permanently  impossible. 

The  rest,  trust,  peace,  and  patience  which  Good  Will 
imparts  to  the  heart  in  which  it  dwells,  does  much 

N 


178  THE   GOSPEL   OF  GOOD   WILL 

to  hasten  recovery  and  avert  disease.  A  man  or  woman 
who  regards  himself  or  herself  as  the  son  or  daughter, 
agent  and  embodiment  of  Good  Will  in  the  world,  with 
some  of  its  specific  work  to  do  and  love  to  manifest, 
will  be  so  regular  in  exercise,  temperate  in  diet,  restful 
in  sleep,  moderate  in  work,  that  he  or  she  will  not  have 
a  twentieth  part  of  the  ailments  that  overtake  the 
man  or  woman  who  is  bent  on  self-indulgence,  or  per- 
sonal ambition,  or  social  preferment,  or  mere  business 
success.  Christianity  of  this  sort,  altogether  apart 
from  any  special  theories  about  the  nature  of  disease  or 
the  unreality  of  matter,  is  the  greatest  health-giver 
and  life-preserver  in  the  world.  Good  Will  is  a  Gospel 
which,  if  faithfully  preached  and  practiced,  for  the  most 
part  keeps  its  adherents  well  and  strong ;  and  yet  when 
sickness  does  overtake  them  makes  them  patient  and 
cheerful  to  bear  it. 

The  Christian  preacher  must  also  show  his  people 
how  to  be  contented  in  whatever  state  they  are.  Pov- 
erty has  its  consolations  for  one  who  is  in  Good  Will. 
The  Christian,  to  be  sure,  can  express  more  Good  Will 
with  ample  furniture  of  fortune  than  without  it.  He  can 
keep  workmen  steadily  and  remuneratively  employed : 
educate  his  children :  support  good  causes  and  reforms : 
help  the  poor:  provide  for  the  old  age  of  himself  and 


BY-PRODUCTS   OF   GOOD   WILL  179 

his  family  so  much  better  with  money  than  without 
it,  that  for  the  sake  of  these  ends,  all  of  which  are 
precious  in  the  sight  of  Good  Will,  he  will  earn  and  save 
and  invest  all  that  he  can  consistently  with  the  claims 
that  come  upon  him  from  day  to  day.  Yet  just  because 
he  seeks  and  holds  his  wealth  not  for  itself ;  and  not  for 
himself  considered  as  a  selfish  individual ;  but  for  Good 
Will,  and  for  himself  as  its  agent,  the  best  part  of  his 
wealth  —  the  end  it  serves  —  will  remain  with  him, 
even  if  he  fails  to  secure  the  wealth ;  or  if,  after  securing 
it,  he  loses  it.  Good  Will,  though  in  some  ways  it  can 
be  better  served  by  the  rich,  in  other  ways  can  be 
effectively  served  by  the  poor.  Sympathy,  affection, 
appreciation  are  often  better  gifts  and  better  services 
than  those  money  can  buy ;  and  these  the  poor  are  often 
able  to  give  more  generously  and  naturally  than  the  rich. 
The  preacher  will  teach  his  people  that  if  they  really 
live  in  and  for  Good  Will,  riches  or  poverty,  though 
not  as  the  Stoics  would  say  indifferent,  is  yet  a  minor 
matter.  Wealth  honestly  gained  and  justly  and  gener- 
ously used  is  preferable,  and  on  the  whole  more  service- 
able; but  poverty  is  also  endurable,  even  welcome,  as 
developing  sympathies  and  charities  which  wealth  too 
often  stifles  and  stunts. 

Finally  the  Christian  who  lives  in  Good  Will  develops 


l8o  THE   GOSPEL  'OF  GOOD   WILL 

an  efficiency,  an  economy,  a  serviceableness  which,  not 
always  but  frequently;  not  universally  but  generally, 
makes  him  friends ;  finds  him  employment ;  brings  him 
recognition,  help,  support;  and  tends  to  take  away  his 
poverty.  All  these  things  Good  Will  tends  to  add  unto 
the  man  or  woman  who  cheerfully,  diligently,  faith- 
fully, generously  gives  to  its  service  what  he  has,  be  that 
little  or  much.  Robert  in  the  play  gets  his  daughter, 
his  brother,  and  even  his  formerly  supercilious  sister-in- 
law  in  return  for  the  humble  service  he  renders. 

The  man  who  is  trying  to  do  right  in  a  world  that  is 
going  wrong  is  often  like  Elijah  afflicted  with  a  sense  of 
loneliness.  It  is  the  preacher's  privilege  to  show  him 
that  he  is  serving,  not  an  unrealized  ideal,  but  God's 
slowly  coming,  surely  conquering  Good  Will,  which 
generations  before  him  have  served ;  which  millions  of 
his  contemporaries  are  serving,  and  which  generations 
after  him  will  serve ;  and  that  he  has  a  great  and  grow- 
ing companionship  with  Christ  and  an  innumerable 
company  of  fellow-Christians.  Nor  will  the  minister 
permit  this  companionship  in  Good  Will  to  remain  per- 
manently one-sided.  He  will  make  sure  that  this  man  is 
recognized,  appreciated,  befriended,  loved,  by  some  other 
sons  and  daughters  of  Good  Will,  and  welcomed  into  the 
intimacy  of  a  friendship  founded  on  this  common  bond. 


BY-PRODUCTS   OF    GOOD   WILL  l8l 

The  man  who  lives  in  and  works  for  Good  Will  at 
times  gets  criticised,  makes  himself  unpopular:  and  is 
persecuted  for  righteousness'  sake.  All  manner  of  evil 
is  said  against  him  falsely ;  because  there  are  sure  to  be 
persons  with  whose  interests  his  service  of  Good  Will 
fails  to  coincide.  All  the  ultra-conservatives  in  politics 
and  religion;  all  the  thoughtless  and  reckless  radicals; 
all  the  grafters;  all  the  selfishly  sensitive;  all  the 
sillily  sentimental;  all  the  hypocrites;  all  the  Scribes 
and  Pharisees ;  all  the  Bishop  Makeshyftes,  at  one  time 
or  another  are  bound  to  be  against  the  man  who  disin- 
terestedly and  conscientiously  makes  Good  Will  his 
principle  of  conduct.  Woe  to  him  if  these  people  speak 
well  of  him ;  for  it  is  a  sure  sign  that  Good  Will  is  feebly 
apprehended  and  timidly  performed.  To  be  alone  and 
to  be  reviled  is  hard.  But  to  be  sure  that  one  is  saying 
and  doing  what  Good  Will,  and  all  its  honest  and  en- 
lightened sons,  desire  one  to  say  and  do,  is  not  to  be 
alone;  but  to  have  the  support  and  approval  of  the 
best  company  on  earth  and  in  heaven.  Living  in  such 
high  and  wide  fellowship,  one  can  stand  the  criticism 
and  condemnation  of  those  who  are  out  of  it ;  or  only  im- 
perfectly and  unintelligently  in  it.  Here  again,  usually 
but  not  always,  in  the  long  run  the  man  who  consist- 
ently does  the  Good  Will  soon  or  late  comes  to  have 


1 82  THE   GOSPEL   OF   GOOD  WILL 

his  integrity  recognized;  comes  to  be  loved  by  those 
who  share  with  him  the  same  high  service;  and  even 
to  be  respected  by  the  very  men  whom  he  disinterestedly 
opposes ;  and  who  from  self-interest  continue  to  oppose 
and  maltreat  him.  It  is  the  preacher's  richest  privilege 
to  give  the  man  who  is  persecuted  for  righteousness' 
sake  the  assurance  and  the  experience  of  this  divine  and 
human  support. 

Failure  is  much  harder  to  bear  than  criticism.  To 
work  long  and  hard;  to  do  one's  best;  and  then  from 
one's  own  miscalculation,  or  defect,  or  blunder;  or 
from  the  ingratitude,  greed  or  treachery  of  others  to 
fail  of  the  result  at  which  one  aims,  is  very  hard  to  bear. 
If  that  is  the  whole  story  it  is  almost  unendurable.  Yet 
to  the  man  who  lives  in  Good  Will  that  is  not  the  whole 
story.  He  may  fail  to  secure  the  specific  object  at 
which  he  aimed;  but  the  preacher  stands  before  him 
and  by  his  side  to  assure  him  that  he  cannot  fail  to  be 
in  Good  Will,  unless  by  his  own  fault  he  falls  out  of  it. 
The  effort  he  puts  forth  counts  as  just  so  much  added 
strength  to  the  cause  of  Good  Will  in  the  world.  The 
training  acquired  in  this  defeat;  the  influence  exerted; 
the  protest  registered ;  will  all  be  helpful  in  the  renewal 
of  the  same  general  campaign  at  other  points  and  at 
later  dates.  No  effort  put  forth  in  the  service  of  Good 


BY-PRODUCTS    OF   GOOD   WILL  183 

Will  can  ever  be  lost.  As  the  location  of  the  ball  on  the 
gridiron  at  any  given  time,  and  the  final  score,  are  the 
resultants  of  all  the  efforts  put  forth  on  both  sides ;  on 
the  side  of  the  losers  as  well  as  on  the  side  of  the  winners ; 
so  the  preacher  will  tell  men  Good  Will  is  stronger,  and 
its  triumph  sooner,  in  consequence  of  every  ounce  of 
energy,  every  unit  of  resolution,  every  atom  of  intelli- 
gence any  defeated  man  has  put  forth  in  its  behalf. 
Many  battles  may  be  lost ;  many  soldiers  may  be  slain ; 
many  captains  may  be  vanquished :  but  the  campaign, 
the  cause,  Good  Will  goes  marching  on:  and  every 
faithful  fighter  in  its  behalf;  every  honest  worker  in 
its  service,  has  his  share  in  the  conquest  he  helps  to 
achieve.  Even  his  partial  and  temporary  failure  con- 
tributes its  part  to  hasten  the  eternal  and  total  triumph. 
And  here  too  whoever  keeps  on  fighting  and  working 
in  Good  Will  draws  soon  or  late  to  his  side  supporters 
and  comrades  with  whose  aid  he  makes  his  defeats 
progressively  less,  and  his  victories  increasingly  fre- 
quent. 

Every  man  has  defects  and  handicaps,  makes  blun- 
ders, says  and  does  foolish  things  of  which  he  is  heartily 
ashamed.  Yet  if  one  is  heartily  devoted  to  Good  Will, 
and  sure  of  his  place  in  its  favor,  even  his  acute  mistakes 
and  chronic  failings  cannot  cast  him  down.  Here  or 


1 84  THE   GOSPEL  OF   GOOD   WILL 

there,  again  and  again,  he  may  be  a  discredit  to  himself 
and  to  the  Good  Will  he  seeks  to  serve.  But  the 
preacher  is  there  by  his  side  to  tell  him  that  Good  Will  is 
so  magnanimous;  its  service  is  so  varied;  that  no  man 
is  so  awkward  and  clumsy,  so  stupid  or  ill-trained,  so 
inefficient  and  incompetent,  but  that  on  many  sides  and 
in  many  ways  outwardly,  and  altogether  in  his  heart 
inwardly,  he  can  be  its  useful,  honorable  servant  and 
well-beloved  son.  The  preacher  will  tell  him  that  if  a 
man  makes  up  his  mind  and  sets  his  heart  to  count 
oneness  with  Good  Will  the  supreme  thing  for  which  he 
cares ;  the  one  thing  on  which  he  stakes  his  happiness : 
he  will  find  that  no  physical  disabilities;  no  mental 
weaknesses;  no  social  disqualifications;  no  spiritual 
dulness,  can  separate  him  from  what  he  most  desires. 
The  only  disqualification  that  can  exclude  the  humblest 
from  the  wedding  feast  is  the  deliberate  neglect  to  put 
on  the  wedding  garment  that  is  freely  offered  to  all 
invited  guests  —  the  garment  of  Good  Will. 

In  addition  to  our  own  sins  and  the  sorrow  and  shame 
they  bring,  we  have  to  bear  the  effects  of  the  sins  of 
others :  the  sins  of  a  dishonest  partner ;  the  sins  of  an 
unfaithful  or  drunken  husband ;  the  sins  of  a  dissolute 
son  or  a  wayward  daughter;  the  sins  of  competitors 
who  make  honest  dealing  almost  financially  suicidal; 


BY-PRODUCTS    OF   GOOD   WILL  185 

the  sins  of  slanderers  that  destroy  our  good  name ;  the 
sins  of  employers  who  break  down  our  health ;  the  sins 
of  rulers  that  misrepresent  us  and  plunge  us  into  extrav- 
agance, or  debt,  or  war. 

If  we  are  mere  children  of  nature,  craving  the  good 
things  of  which  the  sins  of  others  deprive  us,  we  shall 
be  soured,  embittered,  dejected,  comfortless.  But  the 
preacher  is  ordained  to  assure  us  that  if  we  believe  in 
Good  Will,  working  for  the  good  of  us  and  of  others; 
if  we  enter  eagerly,  generously,  bravely  into  its  service, 
we  shall  have  its  fellowship  and  cheer ;  and  that  is  so 
much  deeper  and  stronger  and  sweeter  than  anything 
any  wrong-doer  can  take  from  us  that  we  shall  be  opti- 
mists even  in  an  environment  in  which  to  all  outward 
appearance  everything  makes  for  pessimism. 

The  wives  of  drunken  and  brutal  husbands ;  the  hus- 
bands of  insincere  and  ostentatious  wives ;  the  employees 
of  heartless  corporations  and  the  employers  of  shiftless 
help ;  merchants  who  are  crushed  by  cruel  competition ; 
investors  who  are  fleeced  by  unscrupulous  manipulators ; 
friends  who  are  alienated  by  mischief-makers;  lovers 
who  are  separated  by  worldly  parents  or  gossiping  mis- 
chief-makers :  —  all  who  suffer  unjustly  from  the  wrong- 
doing of  others  are  welcome  to  enter  through  the  open 
door  of  disinterested  devotion  the  blessed  fellowship 


1 86  THE   GOSPEL  OF   GOOD   WILL 

of  Good  Will,  and  of  all  its  sincere,  simple,  straight- 
forward disciples.  Here  is  comfort  free  for  all;  which 
Good  Will  alone  can  give;  and  which  no  other  man's 
evil  will  can  ever  take  away.  Whoever  wishes  to  live 
in  Good  Will  can  have  what  he  wishes  for  the  asking. 
"Ask  and  ye  shall  receive;  seek  and  ye  shall  find; 
knock  and  it  shall  be  opened  unto  you.  For  every 
one  that  asketh  receiveth ;  and  he  that  seeketh  findeth ; 
and  to  him  that  knocketh  it  shall  be  opened."  Under- 
stood not  of  a  future,  far-off  heaven ;  but  of  a  present 
and  intimate  fellowship  in  Good  Will,  this  and  a  host  of 
kindred  Scripture  invitations  become  self-evident  on 
the  lips  of  the  preacher  who  has  the  insight  and  tact  to 
utter  them  at  the  right  time  and  in  the  right  way  to  the 
afflicted  persons  who  need  to  hear  them. 

Faith  in  immortality,  grounded  in  faith  in  Good  Will, 
is  a  distinctively  Christian  grace.  Bereavement  is  the 
severest  of  the  sufferings  to  which  we  are  subjected,  and 
for  this  the  preacher  must  provide  a  comfort  which  is 
at  once  genuine  and  noble.  Union  based  on  mutual 
sharing  of  Good  Will  is  the  highest,  holiest,  sweetest 
thing  we  know  here  on  earth :  and  the  more  we  ap- 
preciate it ;  the  more  we  live  by  it,  in  it,  and  for  it,  the 
surer  we  grow  that  it  is  the  end  for  which  the  world 
exists  and  for  which  we  were  born ;  and  that  the  sepa- 


BY-PRODUCTS    OF   GOOD   WILL  187 

ration  of  death  cannot  utterly  defeat  and  destroy  it. 
Proof  in  the  sense  of  physical  evidence  of  physical  sur- 
vival, so  that  the  physical  order  would  be  incomplete 
and  contradictory  without  it,  there  is  none.  But  we 
have  moral  and  spiritual  evidence  of  immortality  in  the 
sense  that  our  highest  and  holiest  affections ;  our  deepest 
and  tenderest  aspirations ;  our  bravest  and  noblest  sacri- 
fices would  be  put  to  permanent  confusion  and  futility  if 
what  we  hold  so  precious  and  strive  so  hard  to  be  worthy 
of  were  withheld.  In  that  case  we  should  be  better, 
kinder,  braver,  than  the  world  of  which  we  are  a  part. 
Good  Will  as  reflected  in  human  hearts  would  be  left  un- 
related to  a  kindred  Good  Will  at  the  heart  of  things ;  a 
mere  temporary  sport  of  chance  coming  from  and  going 
to  an  order  inferior  to  itself,  yet  triumphing  over  it. 
This  the  greatest  spirits  of  our  race,  those  who  have 
most  fully  entered  into  and  worked  for  Good  Will,  stead- 
fastly refuse  to  believe.  Expectation  of  eternal  service 
and  fellowship  in  Good  Will  gives  him  who  has  it  such 
a  dignity  and  worth;  such  a  strength  and  calm,  that 
the  experience  of  it  in  ourselves,  or  the  appreciation  of 
it  in  others,  goes  far  to  prove  it  "too  fair  to  turn  out 
false."  Most  persons  who,  like  Jesus  and  Paul,  have 
suffered  much  and  advanced  far  in  this  enlarging  and 
uplifting  fellowship  simply  cannot  believe  in,  any  more 


1 88  THE   GOSPEL   OF   GOOD   WILL 

than  they  can  will,  the  extinction  of  a  life  and  love  so 
precious.  This  assurance  of  faith,  attested  by  the  vast 
majority  of  the  faithful,  it  is  the  preacher's  honest  privi- 
lege to  offer  for  the  comfort  of  all  who  mourn  the  loss 
through  death  of  those  whom  the  fellowship  of  Good 
Will  had  ennobled  and  endeared. 

Our  own  certain  death,  if  we  are  living  in  this  faith, 
gives  us  no  anxiety  and  no  alarm.  There  as  here,  for- 
ever as  now,  we  serenely  trust  Good  Will  to  make  a 
heaven  which  it  will  be  our  privilege  to  serve  and  share. 
For  a  heaven  not  upbuilt  by  the  free  and  harmonious 
effort  of  many  sons  and  servants  of  Good  Will  would 
be  no  heaven :  and  with  no  such  work  to  do  and  cause 
to  serve,  neither  Good  Will,  nor  our  wills  a  sharers  of 
it,  would  have  worth  or  meaning.  For,  as  the  idealists 
tell  us,  to  be  or  to  exist  at  all  means  to  fulfil  purpose ; 
and  a  purpose  that  makes  the  present  life  noble,  and 
requires  eternity  for  its  fulfilment,  is  the  pledge  and 
prophecy  of  a  blessed  immortality. 

In  addition  to  the  idealistic  evidence  that  immor- 
tality in  Good  Will  is  the  only  satisfactory  fulfilment  of 
the  world-purpose,  there  is  the  pragmatic  evidence 
that  whoever  hath  this  hope  in  him  purifieth  himself 
even  as  Good  Will  is  pure.  One  cannot  cherish  the 
anticipation  of  an  eternal  life  of  perfect  Good  Will,  and 


BY-PRODUCTS   OF   GOOD   WILL  189 

at  the  same  time  cherish  malice  and  pride  and  cruelty 
and  greed  and  sloth. 

This  faith  makes  judgment  automatic  and  inexorable. 
In  the  clear  transparency  of  the  spiritual  world  those 
who  have  Good  Will  are  forever  welcome  to  its  fellow- 
ship: those  who  have  the  lurking  grudge,  the  mean 
jealousy,  the  hollow  insincerity,  are  automatically  shut 
out. 

Pictorial  representations  of  this  automatic  judg- 
ment by  Good  Will,  are  found  at  the  end  of  Plato's 
"  Gorgias,"  and  in  Jesus'  parable  of  the  Last  Judgment. 
Phillips  Brooks'  sermon  on  "The  Law  of  Liberty"  also 
states  it  beautifully  and  convincingly. 

"By  this  law  we  shall  be  judged.  How  simple  and 
sublime  it  makes  the  judgment  day !  We  stand  before 
the  great  white  throne  and  wait  our  verdict.  We  watch 
the  closed  lips  of  the  Eternal  Judge,  and  our  hearts 
stand  still  until  those  lips  shall  open  and  pronounce 
our  fate ;  heaven  or  hell.  The  lips  do  not  open.  The 
Judge  just  lifts  His  hand  and  raises  from  each  soul 
before  Him  every  law  of  constraint  whose  pressure 
has  been  its  education.  He  lifts  the  laws  of  constraint 
and  their  results  are  manifest.  The  real  intrinsic  na- 
ture of  each  soul  leaps  to  the  surface.  Each  soul's 
law  of  liberty  becomes  supreme.  And  each  soul,  with- 


1 90  THE   GOSPEL   OF   GOOD   WILL 

out  one  word  of  condemnation  or  approval,  by  its  own 
inner  tendency,  seeks  its  own  place.  They  turn  and 
separate,  father  from  child,  brother  from  brother,  wife 
from  husband,  each  with  the  old  habitual  restrictions 
lifted  off,  turns  to  its  own ;  one  by  an  inner  power  to  the 
right  hand,  another  by  a  like  power  to  the  left;  these 
up  to  heaven,  and  these  down  to  hell.  Do  we  need 
more?  It  needs  no  word,  no  smile,  no  frown.  The 
freeing  of  souls  is  the  judging  of  souls.  A  liberated 
nature  dictates  its  own  destiny." 

A  partial  foretaste  of  this  final  judgment  those  who 
live  in  Good  Will  achieve  here  and  now,  in  the  spiritual 
discernment  with  which  they  joyfully  recognize  and  are 
recognized  by  a  kindred  Good  Will  in  those  of  their 
fellows  who  have  it :  and  perceive  and  pity  the  absence 
of  it,  and  consequently  the  impossibility  of  spiritual 
fellowship,  in  those  who  have  it  not. 


VII 
GOOD  WILL  IN  SOCIETY:   REFORM 

"We  all  love  power  —  to  be  on  the  winning  side.  You  cannot 
help  being  there  when  you  are  fighting  the  slum,  for  it  is  the  cause 
of  justice  and  right.  How  then  can  you  lose  ?  And  what  matters 
it  how  you  fare,  your  cause  is  bound  to  win.  Every  defeat  in 
such  a  fight  is  a  step  towards  victory,  taken  in  the  right  spirit. 
In  the  end  you  will  come  out  ahead.  With  a  mother  who  prays, 
a  wife  who  fills  the  house  with  song,  and  the  laughter  of  happy 
children  about  me,  all  my  dreams  come  true  or  coming  true,  why 
should  I  not  be  content  ?  In  fact  I  know  no  better  equipment  for 
making  them  come  true :  faith  in  God  to  make  all  things  possible 
that  are  right:  faith  in  man  to  get  them  done:  fun  enough  in 
between  to  keep  them  from  spoiling  or  running  off  the  track  into 
useless  crankery.  An  extra  good  sprinkling  of  that !"  JACOB  A. 
RHS,  The  Making  of  an  American,  pp.  424-425 :  431-432. 

WITH  these  passages  from  the  "  Making  of  an  Ameri- 
can "  for  our  text,  we  will  go  to  the  same  happy  warrior's 
"The  Battle  with  the  Slum"  for  our  lesson. 

"The  battle  with  the  slum  began  the  day  civilization 
recognized  in  it  her  enemy.  It  was  a  losing  fight  until 
conscience  joined  forces  with  fear  and  self-interest  against 

r9i 


1 92          THE  GOSPEL  OF  GOOD  WILL 

it.    When  common  sense  and  the  golden  rule  obtain 
among  men  as  a  rule  of  practice,  it  will  be  over. 

"  The  slum  complaint  had  been  chronic  in  all  ages,  but 
the  great  changes  which  the  nineteenth  century  saw,  the 
new  industry,  political  freedom,  brought  on  an  acute 
attack  which  put  that  very  freedom  in  jeopardy.  Too 
many  of  us  had  supposed  that,  built  as  our  common- 
wealth was  on  universal  suffrage,  it  would  be  proof 
against  the  complaints  that  harassed  older  states ;  but 
in  fact  it  turned  out  that  there  was  extra  hazard  in  that. 
Having  solemnly  resolved  that  all  men  are  created 
equal  and  have  certain  inalienable  rights,  among  them 
life,  liberty,  and  the  pursuit  of  happiness,  we  shut  our 
eyes  and  waited  for  the  formula  to  work.  It  was  as  if  a 
man  with  a  cold  should  take  the  doctor's  prescription  to 
bed  with  him,  expecting  it  to  cure  him.  The  formula 
was  all  right,  but  merely  repeating  it  worked  no  cure. 
When,  after  a  hundred  years,  we  opened  our  eyes,  it  was 
upon  sixty  cents  a  day  as  the  living  wage  of  the  working- 
woman  in  our  cities ;  upon  '  knee  pants '  at  forty  cents 
a  dozen  for  the  making ;  upon  the  Potter's  Field  taking 
tithe  of  our  city  life,  ten  per  cent  each  year  for  the  trench, 
truly  the  Lost  Tenth  of  the  slum.  Our  country  had 
grown  great  and  rich ;  through  our  ports  was  poured  food 
for  the  millions  of  Europe.  But  in  the  back  streets  mul- 


GOOD  WILL  IN  SOCIETY:   REFORM  193 

titudes  huddled  in  ignorance  and  want.  The  foreign 
oppressor  had  been  vanquished,  the  fetters  stricken  from 
the  black  man  at  home ;  but  his  white  brother,  in  his 
bitter  plight,  sent  up  a  cry  of  distress  that  had  in  it  a  dis- 
tinct note  of  menace.  Political  freedom  we  had  won; 
but  the  problem  of  helpless  poverty,  grown  vast  with  the 
added  offscourings  of  the  Old  World,  mocked  us,  unsolved. 
Liberty  at  sixty  cents  a  day  set  presently  its  stamp  upon 
the  government  of  our  cities,  and  it  became  the  scandal 
and  the  peril  of  our  political  system. 

"  Slow  work,  yes !  but  be  it  ever  so  slow,  the  battle 
has  got  to  be  fought,  and  fought  out.  For  it  is  one 
thing  or  the  other ;  either  we  wipe  out  the  slum,  or  it 
wipes  out  us.  Let  there  be  no  mistake  about  this.  It 
cannot  be  shirked.  Shirking  means  surrender,  and 
surrender  means  the  end  of  government  by  the  people. 
We  are  brothers  whether  we  own  it  or  not,  and  when 
the  brotherhood  is  denied  in  Mulberry  Street  we  shall 
look  vainly  for  the  virtue  of  good  citizenship  on  Fifth 
Avenue. 

"In  the  battle  with  the  slums  we  win  or  we  perish. 
There  is  no  middle  way.  We  shall  win,  for  we  are  not 
letting  things  be  the  way  our  fathers  did.  But  it  will  be 
a  running  fight,  and  it  is  not  going  to  be  won  in  two  years, 
or  in  ten,  or  in  twenty.  For  all  that,  we  must  keep  on 
o 


194  THE   GOSPEL   OF  GOOD   WILL 

fighting,  content  if  in  our  time  we  avert  the  punishment 
that  waits  upon  the  third  and  the  fourth  generation  of 
those  who  forget  the  brotherhood.  As  a  man  does  in 
dealing  with  his  brother  so  it  is  the  way  of  God  that  his 
children  shall  reap." 

The  slum  is  simply  society's  diseased  tissue  at  its  most 
inflamed  point.  What  Mr.  Riis  says  of  it  is  true  of  the 
whole  long  list  of  political,  economic,  social,  and  moral 
and  international  reforms. 

Society  is  imperfect.  It  is  never  a  complete  expres- 
sion of  Good  Will.  It  is  the  resultant  of  Good  Will  on 
the  one  side,  and  of  resisting  matter  and  hard  human 
hearts  on  the  other.  There  are  usually  two  sides  to  a 
social  question;  and  some  truth  on  each  side.  There 
are  two  ways  of  taking  each  side :  one  that  is  right  and 
one  that  is  wrong.  Ordinarily  it  is  not  the  preacher's 
business  to  tell  his  people  which  side  of  a  debatable  social 
question  they  shall  take :  but  to  show  them  how  to  take 
whichever  side  they  join  in  the  right  and  not  in  the  wrong 
way. 

For  instance  the  preacher  ought  not  to  tell  his  people 
whether  to  vote  the  Republican  or  the  Democratic  ticket. 
If  he  attempts  to  do  so  he  will  antagonize  good  people 
in  his  congregation  who  honestly  differ  from  him :  and 
to  that  extent  forfeit  and  deserve  to  forfeit  his  influence 


GOOD  WILL  IN  SOCIETY:   REFORM  195 

over  them  for  more  important  issues.  He  ought  to  draw 
a  sharp  line,  not  between  Republicans  and  Democrats ; 
but  between  Christian  Republicans  and  heathen  Republi- 
cans ;  between  Christian  Democrats  and  heathen  Demo- 
crats. 

Who  then  is  a  Christian  Republican?  and  who  is 
a  heathen  Republican?  Who  is  a  Christian  Democrat, 
and  who  is  a  heathen  Democrat  ? 

A  Christian  Republican  is  a  man  who  believes  that 
Good  Will  calls  for  a  strong  centralized  government,  in 
which  the  power  of  the  whole  is  made  effective  for  the 
benefit  of  each  part :  in  which  the  profit  of  the  individual 
and  the  prejudice  of  the  locality  is  sacrificed  to  the  inter- 
est of  all  and  the  judgment  of  the  nation.  He  is  willing 
to  pay  a  higher  tariff  to  keep  in  employment  working- 
men  in  whom  he  has  no  direct  interest ;  he  is  glad  to  pay 
a  bigger  tax  to  have  forests  conserved,  deserts  irrigated, 
rivers  and  harbors  dredged,  hundreds  of  miles  from  his 
home ;  to  have  scientific  researches  prosecuted ;  explora- 
tions made ;  foreign  policies  maintained,  and  the  military 
and  naval  power  requisite  for  their  support  developed. 
The  Christian  Republican  desires  the  nation  to  do  all 
the  Good  Will  it  can ;  even  at  the  expense  of  his  pri- 
vate, local  interests  as  a  consumer  of  a  particular  com- 
modity ;  as  a  dweller  in  this  or  that  town  or  state ;  as  a 


196  THE   GOSPEL   OF  GOOD   WILL 

member  of  this  or  that  profession  or  vocation.  To  make 
Republicans  Christian  Republicans  —  Republicans  who 
desire  the  nation  to  express  all  the  Good  Will  it  can,  at 
whatever  cost  of  taxation ;  at  whatever  risk  of  corruption 
centralized  power  inevitably  invites :  believing  the  benefi- 
cence on  the  whole  outweighs  the  corruption ;  and  the 
good  of  the  whole  is  greater  than  the  cost  to  its  constit- 
uent parts :  —  that  is  the  preacher's  duty  to  his  Re- 
publican parishioners. 

On  the  other  hand,  if  there  is  in  his  congregation  a  Re- 
publican who,  just  because  he  happens  to  be  a  manufac- 
turer of  woollen  or  tin  goods,  does  not  care  how  much 
more  his  fellow-citizens  have  to  pay  for  their  coats  and 
dinner  pails,  so  long  as  that  increase  comes  to  him  and 
his  locality  and  his  business  in  extra  profits ;  who  is  a 
Republican  for  the  sake  of  Republican  office  or  Republi- 
can graft ;  it  is  the  business  of  the  preacher  to  make  him 
ashamed  of  himself :  to  show  him  that  as  such  a  Repub- 
lican he  can  have  no  part  or  lot  in  Good  Will  for  his 
country ;  and  brand  him  as  the  parasite  and  traitor  that 
he  is. 

The  Christian  preacher  likewise  will  try  to  make  his 
Democratic  parishioners  Christian  Democrats :  Demo- 
crats, that  is,  who  stand  for  the  principle  that  the  locality, 
the  special  interest,  the  individual  should  be  let  alone  as 


GOOD  WILL  IN  SOCIETY:   REFORM  197 

much  as  possible ;  that  the  individual  can  make  a  better 
use  of  his  money  and  manage  his  local  affairs  better  than 
a  central  government  can  manage  them  for  him ;  and 
that  a  sturdy  independence  is  better  for  all  concerned, 
and  therefore  for  the  nation  as  a  whole,  than  a  nursed, 
coddled  and  fostered  prosperity  provided  and  controlled 
by  governmental  agency. 

Bad  Democrats,  on  the  other  hand :  Democrats  who 
care  not  how  the  working-man  must  reduce  his  standard 
of  living,  or  even  go  hungry,  if  only  they  buy  their  goods 
cheap ;  Democrats  who  are  indifferent  to  the  destruction 
of  our  forests,  the  obstruction  of  river  and  harbor  traffic, 
the  decline  of  efficiency  in  army  and  navy,  so  long  as 
taxes  are  low :  Democrats  who  are  in  politics  for  their 
pockets  rather  than  their  principles :  —  these  the  preacher 
will  rebuke  in  the  same  searching  and  merciless  way  as 
he  does  their  Republican  counterparts,  as  traitors  to 
their  country  and  enemies  of  Good  Will. 

If  this  is  the  attitude  of  the  preacher  toward  the  two 
great  parties,  what  shall  it  be  toward  parties  that  spring 
up  in  support  of  moral  issues,  like  the  Progressives 
and  the  Prohibitionists?  Precisely  the  same.  There 
are  Christian  Progressives  and  unchristian  Progressives ; 
Christian  Prohibitionists  and  unchristian  Prohibition- 
ists. The  Christian  Progressive  sees  the  political  ma- 


198  THE   GOSPEL    OF  GOOD  WILL 

chines  of  both  old  parties  grinding  and  crushing  the 
people  they  were  created  to  serve;  captured  and  cor- 
rupted by  powerful  vested  interests :  and  he  stands  for 
the  restoration  of  power  to  the  people ;  and  the  recapture 
in  their  interest  of  both  governmental  and  party  machin- 
ery. The  Progressive  with  this  programme  is  a  Christian : 
and  the  preacher  will  honor  and  encourage  him  as  a  man 
who  stands  for  important  aspects  of  Good  Will  which  in 
the  strife  of  the  regular  parties,  and  by  corrupt  alliance 
among  the  leaders  of  both  of  them,  had  come  to  be  neg- 
lected. 

The  unchristian  Progressives,  the  disgruntled  office- 
seekers  who  hope  for  personal  advancement  in  a  new 
party,  the  unpractical  visionaries,  the  temperamental 
agitators,  who  fasten  themselves  upon  every  new  move- 
ment, the  preacher  will  condemn  as  useless  and  mis- 
chievous disturbers  of  the  peace. 

The  Christian  Prohibitionist  likewise;  the  man  who 
sees  clearly  and  feels  deeply  the  misery  and  degradation 
and  corruption  the  sale  of  liquor  carries  in  its  train ; 
and  who  believes  that  for  the  moment  the  pushing  of  the 
fight  against  this  evil  is  more  important  than  the  support 
of  the  great  domestic  and  foreign  policies  for  which  the 
regular  parties  stand  :  —  the  Christian  Prohibitionist 
should  be  honored  and  upheld.  The  unchristian  Prohi- 


GOOD  WILL  IN  SOCIETY:   REFORM  199 

bitionist ;  the  man  who  sees  only  one  issue  at  a  time, 
and  sees  that  red  and  reckless ;  the  denunciatory  Pro- 
hibitionist, the  ascetic  Prohibitionist,  the  self-exalting 
Prohibitionist,  the  Christian  minister,  with  such  gentle- 
ness and  humor  as  he  can  command,  will  criticise  and 
expose. 

The  Christian  preacher,  whatever  he  may  do  as  citizen 
outside  the  pulpit,  will  not,  as  preacher,  be  a  partisan  of 
any  party :  he  will  not  preach  Republican,  or  Democratic, 
or  Progressive,  or  Prohibitionist  doctrine.  He  will  be  a 
partisan  of  Good  Will  in  all  these  parties,  and  the  foe  to 
whatever  in  any  of  them  opposes  it.  He  will  hold  the 
Gospel  of  Good  Will  so  precious,  that  he  will  not  risk  his 
influence  for  that  by  antagonizing  in  the  pulpit  honest 
beliefs  of  his  people  on  minor  matters  of  detail. 

Before  we  can  see  the  preacher's  duty  toward  industrial 
problems  and  parties  we  must  call  to  mind  the  present 
stage  of  industrial  development. 

As  long  as  life  was  simple,  as  long  as  every  man  was  half 
farmer,  half  jack-at-all-trades,  as  long  as  business  con- 
sisted chiefly  in  the  exchange  of  goods  and  services  be- 
tween individuals  who  were  approximately  equal,  if  not 
in  wealth,  at  least  in  opportunity,  individual  justice, 
justice  between  man  and  man,  was  all  the  justice  needed. 
Now  that  many  essential  services,  like  transportation, 


200  THE   GOSPEL   OF   GOOD   WILL 

light,  water,  communication,  have  become  monopolies ; 
and  most  of  the  rest  through  concentration  of  capital 
and  mutual  understandings  have  acquired  many  of  the 
attributes  of  virtual  monopoly,  the  individual  in  buying 
these  commodities  and  services,  and  in  selling  his  own 
services  and  products,  is  no  longer  on  an  approximate 
equality  with  the  public  service  corporation  or  even  the 
private  corporation ;  but  largely  at  its  mercy.  But  the 
mercy  of  a  corporation  is  proverbially  lacking.  A  cor- 
poration, left  to  itself,  becomes  a  mere  machine  for  de- 
claring dividends ;  with  both  mercy  and  justice,  to  say 
the  least,  not  in  the  focus,  but  at  best  on  the  dim  pe- 
riphery of  its  attention. 

Since  the  corporation  ordinarily  cannot  be  made  dis- 
interestedly and  directly  expressive  of  Good  Will,  it  be- 
comes necessary  for  some  commission,  or  board  of  con- 
trol, to  be  placed  over  it  to  compel  it  to  conform  not 
merely  to  the  letter  of  the  law,  but  to  the  spirit  of  Good 
Will.  Such  commissions  or  boards  have  as  their  function 
the  enforcement  of  the  rights  of  patrons  and  employees ; 
the  prevention  of  violation  of  the  spirit  as  well  as  the 
letter  of  the  law  ;  and  the  definition  of  the  terms  and  ap- 
plications of  the  law  when  they  are  uncertain  or  in  dis- 
pute. 

The  object  of  these  laws  and  commissions  is  to  lift  the 


GOOD  WILL  IN  SOCIETY:   REFORM  201 

plane  of  competition  where  there  is  competition ;  and  to 
restrain  the  power  of  monopoly  where  there  is  monopoly. 
Protection  against  the  exploitation  of  child  labor :  re- 
striction of  the  hours  and  the  conditions  of  the  labor 
of  women  and  children :  provision  for  working-men's 
compensation  in  case  of  accident,  so  that  the  cost  of  such 
accidents  shall  not  fall  on  the  poor  working-man  or  his 
family,  but  shall  be  distributed  among  the  consumers 
of  the  product  as  part  of  its  just  price  :  working-men's 
insurance  at  moderate  rates,  with  state  protection  and 
support,  instead  of  the  exorbitant  terms  and  tricky  poli- 
cies which  uncontrolled  private  companies  have  imposed : 
—  these  are  some  of  the  more  urgent  reforms  Good  Will 
has  been  demanding  and  will  continue  to  demand  in  the 
immediate  future. 

Welfare  work ;  rest  rooms ;  provision  for  luncheon  at 
moderate  cost;  recreation  and  social  opportunities  for 
employees  are  other  forms  Good  Will  takes  when  it  enters 
the  heart  of  a  powerful  individual  or  corporation  and 
controls  its  attitude  toward  employees.  Recognition  of 
labor  unions ;  readiness  to  deal  with  them ;  a  grateful 
sense  of  whatever  help  they  can  give  their  employees 
toward  just  wages  and  wholesome  hours  and  conditions 
of  work  is  another  sign  that  Good  Will  toward  the  em- 
ployees is  present  in  the  heart  of  the  employer. 


202  THE   GOSPEL   OF  GOOD   WILL 

When  possible  on  an  open,  fair  and  honest  basis,  profit- 
sharing  is  the  crowning  consummation  of  Good  Will 
under  the  competitive  system  of  production  and  distri- 
bution. When  capitalist,  entrepreneur  and  working- 
man,  each  and  all  have  a  share  proportioned  to  their 
contribution  to  the  profits  of  their  joint  enterprise ;  then 
we  have  as  much  Good  Will  in  industry  as  present  condi- 
tions permit,  and  the  immediate  future  promises  as  prac- 
tically possible. 

When  Good  Will  in  business  has  achieved  public  con- 
trol of  the  plane  of  competition,  arbitration,  welfare  work, 
profit-sharing,  working-men's  participation  in  manage- 
ment, there  will  doubtless  develop  the  need  of  further 
safeguards  and  firmer  cooperation ;  and  these  may  in- 
volve steps  still  further  in  the  direction  of  socialism. 
When  they  prove  their  beneficence  and  practicality  Good 
Will  in  men  and  society  will  adopt  them.  But  for  the 
present  and  the  immediate  future  those  who  have  this 
Good  Will  must  be  careful  not  to  let  go  the  values  of 
independence,  initiative,  and  resourcefulness  in  the 
competitive  system,  before  they  are  sure  of  greater  gains 
from  socialistic  experiments. 

Individualism  aims  to  give  each  man  all  the  liberty 
consistent  with  the  like  liberty  for  everybody  else.  But 
there  are  two  fatal  indictments  against  uncontrolled 


GOOD  WILL  IN  SOCIETY:   REFORM  203 

individualism  under  modern  conditions.  First :  liberty 
is  not  an  end  but  a  means ;  and  when  set  up  as  an  end 
amounts  only  to  an  empty  abstraction :  good  as  a  war- 
cry  in  times  of  revolution  against  tyranny,  but  entirely 
incapable  of  producing  a  satisfactory  mode  of  life.  We 
need  freedom  not  from  tyranny  only  but  in  participation 
in  a  common  good ;  and  of  this  freedom  in  a  common 
good  individualism  gives  the  mere  form  without  the  sub- 
stance. 

Second :  the  liberty  individualism  offers,  however  it 
might  work  out  between  equals,  when  applied  to  parties 
grossly  unequal  inevitably  results  in  the  enslavement  of  the 
weaker  by  the  stronger.  The  liberty  offered  by  individu- 
alism turns  out  to  be  no  liberty  at  all :  for  to  the  weaker 
party  it  presents  the  alternative :  —  "Accept  the  terms 
offered  by  the  stronger,  or  starve  on  terms  satisfactory 
to  yourself"  : — which  is  practically  no  alternative  at  all. 

Socialism  is  weak  in  just  the  opposite  way.  Individ- 
ualism provides  goods  and  services ;  but  at  cruel  cost  to 
the  exploited  laborers.  Socialism  promises  to  take 
excellent  care  of  the  laborer ;  so  good  care  in  fact  that  the 
individualistic  motive  to  enterprise  and  thrift  would 
be  greatly  in  danger  of  becoming  relaxed.  But  where 
are  the  goods  and  services  coming  from  if  the  nerve  of 
individual  responsibility  is  cut  ? 


204  THE   GOSPEL   OF   GOOD   WILL 

The  post-office  is  cited  as  an  example  of  collectivist 
efficiency.  Yet  the  efficiency  of  the  post-office  comes 
through  men  trained  under  the  regime  of  competition. 
As  long  as  the  momentum  of  individualistic  initiative 
lasted,  socialism  would  work ;  but  that  would  not  be  for 
long.  Socialism  in  its  more  extreme  form  is  conceivable 
only  as  the  first  stage  in  a  process  of  economic  degrada- 
tion ;  the  brief  stage  namely  during  which  the  momentum 
acquired  under  individualism  would  last.  Individualism 
gives  us  magnificently  efficient  and  economical  produc- 
tion with  grossly  unjust  and  unequal  distribution.  So- 
cialism offers  us  just  and  generous  distribution,  with 
enormously  decreased  and  deteriorated  products  to  dis- 
tribute. One  offers  the  empty  heart  and  the  full  hands ; 
the  other  the  full  heart  and  the  empty  hands. 

The  preacher's  duty  is  the  same  toward  economic 
policies  as  toward  politics.  He  must  see  and  approve 
the  good  in  individualism ;  and  see  and  condemn  the  evil 
in  individualism.  He  must  see  and  approve  the  good  in 
socialism;  and  see  and  condemn  the  evil  in  socialism. 
As  preacher  he  can  rarely  venture  to  say  at  what  precise 
moment  and  to  what  precise  extent  free  contract  shall 
end  and  government  control  begin ;  government  control 
end  and  government  ownership  begin.  As  preacher 
his  task  is  to  make  free  contract  considerate ;  knowing 


GOOD  WILL  IN  SOCIETY:   REFORM  205 

that  considerate  contract  leads  logically  and  emotionally 
to  profit-sharing,  welfare  work  or  government  control : 
to  make  government  control  impartial  as  between  cap- 
italist, consumer  and  employee ;  knowing  that  the  logic 
of  control  of  services,  rates  and  wages  drives  inexorably 
in  the  direction  of  government  ownership. 

On  the  other  hand,  if  ever,  and  so  far  as,  government, 
ownership,  or  a  control  amounting  to  virtual  ownership, 
is  reached,  it  will  become  the  urgent  duty  of  the  Chris- 
tian preacher  to  preach  with  all  his  might  the  old  in- 
dividualistic virtues  of  economy,  industry,  diligence, 
initiative,  enterprise:  for  when  once  the  competitive 
motives  to  these  individualistic  virtues  are  withdrawn 
disinterested  Christian  benevolence  will  be  the  only  safe- 
guard against  laziness,  shiftlessness,  stupidity,  corrup- 
tion, reaction,  and  retrogression.  Under  the  individual- 
istic regime,  the  phases  of  Good  Will  most  needing  to  be 
preached  are  the  socialistic  virtues :  under  the  socialistic 
regime  the  virtues  most  needing  to  be  preached  would 
be  the  individualistic  virtues.  But  the  Christian 
preacher  should  never  become  either  the  mere  individ- 
ualist or  the  mere  socialist.  His  business  is  to  help  in- 
dividualists to  be  Christian  individualists,  and  in  so 
doing  he  will  carry  them  a  long  way  toward  socialism. 
His  business  is  likewise  to  help  socialists  to  be  Christian 


206  THE   GOSPEL  OF   GOOD   WILL 

socialists,  and  if  he  does  that  effectively  he  will  hold 
them  to  the  homely  individual  virtues  which  too  many 
socialists  sadly  lack,  and  by  lacking  seriously  discredit 
their  cause. 

Thus  the  Christian  preacher's  vocation  is  to  serve 
both  economic  parties ;  and  is  equally  important  which- 
ever of  the  two  happens  to  be  uppermost.  At  the  same 
time  since  he  preaches  not  what  men  like  but  what  they 
need;  and  men  always  need  most  the  qualities,  not  of 
the  order  under  which  they  are  living  and  which  are  en- 
forced by  that  order,  but  the  qualities  of  the  order 
under  which  they  are  not  living  and  but  for  the  preacher 
would  be  unenforced,  the  preacher's  message  on  these 
subjects  in  neither  case  can  be  altogether  popular. 

The  wise  minister  will  not  preach  directly  for  or 
against  woman's  suffrage.  He  will  scorn  to  withhold 
from  woman  anything  that  would  add  to  her  dignity 
and  power  which  she  reasonably  and  earnestly  desires. 
At  the  same  time  he  will  so  magnify  her  contributions 
as  wife,  mother,  comrade,  friend,  hostess  and  teacher, 
that  her  possible  service  as  voter  will  be  seen  to  be  a 
very  minor  fraction  of  her  total  service  to  society. 

If  in  politics  and  labor  problems  the  preacher  must 
see  and  serve  Good  Will  on  both  sides  of  controverted 
questions,  in  the  family  may  he  not  take  sides,  and  lay 


GOOD  WILL  IN  SOCIETY:   REFORM  207 

down  the  law  for  society  to  follow?  Many  preachers 
so  assume;  and  many  laymen  acquiesce.  But  here 
again  his  highest  usefulness  lies  not  in  hot  partisanship 
nor  cold  neutrality ;  but  in  helpful  service  to  the  needs 
of  both  parties. 

Divorce  is  of  course  the  burning  issue  respecting  the 
family.  The  Christian  preacher  as  the  exponent  of 
Good  Will  holds  up  as  the  ideal  for  every  normal  man  and 
woman  indissoluble  monogamous  marriage.  Mankind's 
prolonged  experiment  in  living  has  proved  that  for  the 
normal  individual  in  a  normal  society  such  marriage  is 
happiest,  holiest  and  best  for  all  concerned.  The  whole 
trend  and  tendency  of  the  Christian  minister's  teaching 
and  preaching  will  make  for  such  permanent  and  fruitful 
union.  He  will  include  the  promise  of  such  a  union  in 
the  marriage  ceremony.  He  will  counsel  patience  and 
forbearance  when  married  men  and  women  seek  his 
advice  in  times  of  strain.  He  will  train  young  men  and 
women  to  regard  marriage  as  a  lifelong  obligation  to 
be  fulfilled  at  cost  of  serious  sacrifice.  He  will  refuse 
to  remarry  persons  who  in  selfishness  and  petulance, 
restlessness  or  infatuation,  have  been  divorced.  For  the 
sake  of  the  priceless  blessings  lifelong  devotion  brings  to 
husband  and  wife,  to  parents  and  children,  to  family 
and  society,  he  will  urge  men  and  women  to  pay  the 


208  THE   GOSPEL   OF   GOOD   WILL 

high  price  that  devotion  frequently  costs  when  the  other 
party  is  poor,  or  sick,  or  irritable,  or  unreasonable.  On 
no  lower  or  easier  terms  can  Good  Will  for  the  family 
be  proclaimed. 

Yet  when  the  pearls  of  a  pure  affection  are  persistently 
trampled  under  the  feet  of  swinish  greed,  lust,  and  hate- 
fulness;  when  through  no  fault  of  the  innocent  party 
life  for  him  or  her  is  made  intolerable  with  no  prospect 
of  benefit  or  blessing  to  the  guilty  one ;  then  the  Chris- 
tian minister  will  recognize  what  most  Christian  states 
already  allow — the  right  of  the  innocent  party  to  divorce 
and  remarriage.  The  true  marriage  is  so  much  more 
blessed  than  any  other  mode  of  life  that  it  does  not  need 
to  be  bolstered  up  by  the  enforced  continuity  of  marriages 
which  are  perverted  into  loathsome  sensuality,  hideous 
hate,  intolerable  wretchedness.  The  Christian  preacher 
should  have  so  much  sympathy  for  the  unhappy  vic- 
tims of  bad  marriages,  and  so  much  respect  for  the 
blessedness  of  good  marriages,  that  he  will  recognize  and 
approve  the  desire  to  escape  the  bondage  and  degrada- 
tion of  such  an  unchristian  union.  He  will  not  in  a 
spirit  of  formal  literalism  ask  whether  the  guilty  party 
has  committed  the  one  specific  sin  which  Jesus  happened 
to  mention  as  a  legitimate  ground  of  divorce.  He  will 
ask  in  a  broad,  sympathetic,  common-sense  spirit  whether 


GOOD  WILL  IN  SOCIETY:   REFORM  209 

Good  Will  for  the  individuals  concerned  and  for  society 
calls  them  to  continue  to  pay  this  heavy  price  or  not. 
If  in  his  best  judgment  it  does  not,  he  will  sanction 
divorce;  admit  the  innocent  divorced  person  to  the 
fullest  Christian  fellowship;  and  even  perform  the 
marriage  ceremony  where  there  is  the  promise  and  pros- 
pect of  a  new  and  happy  lifelong  marriage.  To  do  less 
than  that  would  be  to  miss  the  spirit  of  Good  Will, 
through  being  a  stickler  for  the  precise  letter  in  which 
its  general  conditions  were  declared  by  Jesus  and  em- 
bodied in  the  Holy  Scriptures  —  an  attitude  which  is 
unworthy  of  the  free  and  friendly  preacher  of  Good 
Will. 

If  politics,  economics  and  the  family  are  to  be  treated 
by  the  preacher  indirectly  through  principles  rather 
than  directly  in  detail,  surely  distinctly  moral  problems 
like  the  brothel,  the  saloon,  and  the  gambling  den  are 
spheres  in  which  the  preacher  may  advocate  specific 
social  programmes.  Not  on  questions  where  there  is 
honest  and  earnest  difference  of  opinion  between  men  of 
equal  Good  Will ;  at  least  not  unless  he  gives  full  and 
generous  acknowledgment  to  the  earnest  and  honest 
Good  Will  of  his  opponents.  Even  here  he  will  be  most 
effective  as  preacher,  whatever  he  may  do  in  his  capacity 
as  an  individual  citizen,  if  he  confines  his  preaching  for 


210  THE   GOSPEL   OF   GOOD   WILL 

the  most  part  to  principles;  and  leaves  to  the  mayor, 
the  police,  good  government  clubs  and  the  voters  the 
specific  measures  in  which  his  principles  shall  be  em- 
bodied. 

Concerning  the  social  evil  it  is  his  province  to  make  men 
see  and  feel  and  reverence  the  beauty  and  beneficence 
of  Nature's  provision  for  the  reproduction  and  im- 
provement of  the  human  race  through  the  selection  of 
the  best  in  each  of  two  individuals  brought  together  by 
the  mighty  attraction  of  sex.  The  holiness  of  pure  love 
he  will  teach  them  to  revere  as  God's  choicest  gift. 
On  the  background  of  such  a  reverence  he  will  throw 
the  beastliness  of  the  lust  that  would  pollute  and  pervert 
it  in  selfish  and  irresponsible  sensuality;  so  that  every 
man  who  hears  his  message  will  be  ashamed  to  treat  any 
woman  with  anything  less  than  chivalry.  On  this  back- 
ground he  will  throw  the  odiousness  and  cruelty  of  the 
greed  that  destroys  and  sells  the  bodies  and  souls  of 
women  for  the  gratification  of  the  lusts  of  brutal  men. 
The  preacher  will  make  the  whole  sordid  and  loathsome 
traffic  to  appear  the  cruel,  monstrous,  degrading  contra- 
diction of  Good  Will  it  is.  Having  created  and  kept 
alive  that  sentiment  his  work  as  preacher  is  done :  and 
if  that  is  faithfully,  fearlessly  and  effectively  done,  the 
proper  legislative,  executive,  and  police  measures  will 


GOOD  WILL  IN  SOCIETY:   REFORM  211 

follow  in  proportion  to  the  political,  business  and  social 
influence  his  congregation  has  in  the  community;  and 
the  minister  will  be  more  not  less  a  power,  than  if  as 
preacher  he  were  to  attempt  to  say  whether  this  or  that 
specific  regulation  shall  be  adopted.  The  Christian 
ministry  always  has  been  and  always  will  be  the  most 
potent  foe  of  this  unspeakable  iniquity :  and  in  the  future 
as  in  the  past  the  preacher's  mam  contribution  will  be 
sentiment  aroused  by  principles,  rather  than  legislation 
applied  or  misapplied  in  details. 

The  same  is  true  of  intemperance.  The  horror  and 
beastliness  of  it ;  the  cruelty  to  wife  and  children ;  the 
injury  to  society  and  posterity  will  be  a  frequent  theme 
with  the  preacher  whose  people  are  subject  to  that  temp- 
tation. He  will  unsparingly  denounce  the  meanness  and 
infamy  of  men  who  make  a  sordid  living'  by  catering  to 
the  vices  of  the  weak,  and  impoverishing  their  wretched 
families.  If  this  is  temperately,  faithfully  and  fearlessly 
done,  political  action  in  restriction  of  the  liquor  traffic  will 
follow :  and  follow  all  the  more  surely  and  effectively  than 
it  would  were  the  preacher  to  attempt  to  tell  his  people 
to  vote  to  put  prohibition  into  the  state  or  national 
constitution  before  there  is  sentiment  to  enforce  it  in 
the  villages  and  cities  of  which  the  state  and  nation 
are  composed.  As  a  citizen  the  preacher  may  make 


212  THE   GOSPEL   OF   GOOD   WILL 

stump  speeches  if  he  please;  but  the  pulpit  is  not  the 
place,  nor  the  hour  of  Sabbath  worship  the  time,  to  ad- 
vocate state-wide  statutes,  or  amendments  to  the  con- 
stitution of  the  country.  Important  as  those  things  are, 
the  preacher  has  larger  and  less  divisive  issues :  issues, 
too,  on  which  he  is  or  ought  to  be  more  of  an  expert  than 
he  usually  can  be  in  constitutional  amendments,  statutes 
and  police  regulations. 

The  same  principle  governs  the  minister's  attitude 
toward  international  affairs.  He  will  instil  into  the 
minds  of  his  people  the  horror,  the  futility,  the  waste, 
the  wickedness  of  all  war  that  is  honorably  avoidable. 
He  will  point  out  the  infinitely  superior  economy  and 
efficiency  of  arbitration  where  that  is  practicable.  He 
will  labor  to  build  up  a  sentiment  which  will  unite  the 
nations  in  a  league  of  peace. 

Yet  he  will  recognize  that,  to  say  nothing  of  barbarous 
tribes,  even  nominally  Christian  nations  are  not  yet 
actually  Christian  in  their  policies  toward  other  nations. 

Whenever  self-defence  against  wanton  and  arrogant 
aggression  demands  it,  whenever  weak  nations  for  which 
we  have  by  treaty  or  proximity  special  national  obli- 
gations need  our  protection  against  outward  attack  or 
protracted  internal  strife,  wherever  the  maintenance  of 
the  laws  and  rights  of  nations  against  their  unscrupulous 


GOOD  WILL  IN  SOCIETY:   REFORM  213 

and  deliberate  disregard  requires  it,  then  rightfully 
and  firmly  he  will  call  upon  his  nation,  as  he  would  an 
individual  in  similar  situation,  to  take  up  arms ;  not  in 
malice,  not  for  aggrandizement  or  glory,  but  as  a  costly 
sacrifice  essential  to  the  doing  by  the  nation  of  its  part 
in  the  service  of  Good  Will. 

Peace-making  and  peace-loving  as  every  minister  of 
Christ  must  be,  he  will  advocate  such  sufficient  pre- 
paredness for  war  at  all  times  as  will  reduce  to  a  min- 
imum the  necessity  for  actual  war;  and  make  the 
nation's  voice  effective  in  behalf  of  international 
justice.  Bitterly  as  he  opposes  militarism  he  will 
advocate  so  much  military  strength  in  his  own  na- 
tion as  is  necessary  to  protect  both  his  own  nation 
and  the  world  from  domination  by  those  nations  in 
which  it  is  enthroned. 

On  all  these  matters,  and  a  host  of  others,  child  labor, 
the  juvenile  court,  prison  reform,  charity  administra- 
tion, rural  betterment,  civil  service  reform,  arbitration 
of  industrial  disputes,  the  minister  may  not  be  unin- 
telligent or  indifferent:  neither  can  he  wisely  be  dic- 
tatorial hi  detail.  To  create  and  sustain  sound  convic- 
tions and  lively  sentiment  is  his  mighty  province,  a 
province  so  mighty  that  he  makes  a  fearful  mistake  when 
he  forfeits  his  authority  and  influence  within  it  to  con- 


214  THE   GOSPEL   OF   GOOD  WILL 

tend  over  the  debatable  details  of  their  application. 
Not  of  course  that  details  and  applications  are  unim- 
portant; or  that  principles  and  sentiment  amount  to 
anything  unless  they  are  applied  in  detail.  But  in  the 
intricate  and  delicate  team-work  of  society,  principles 
and  sentiments  are  the  Christian  minister's  specific 
assignment:  while  application  in  detail  through  legis- 
lation and  administration  are  not.  Let  the  minister 
stick  to  his  assignment;  and  urge  the  other  social 
agencies  to  be  faithful  to  theirs  :  and  through  the  united 
efforts  of  clergy  and  laity,  preacher  and  citizens,  Good 
Will  is  sure  to  be  done  more  effectively  than  if  ministers 
seek  to  legislate  and  enforce;  while  the  citizens  are 
left  hazy  about  spiritual  principles,  and  spiritless  in 
moral  sentiment. 

This  team-work  view  of  the  minister's  relation  to  social 
problems  is  at  present  far  less  popular  than  the  indi- 
vidual-star view,  which  measures  the  minister  by  what 
he  can  accomplish  directly,  and  set  down  to  his  individual 
credit.  But  the  sacrifice  of  individual  credit  for  speedy 
and  showy  specific  results  is  the  price  one  has  to  pay 
everywhere  for  the  greater  ultimate  efficiency  of  team- 
work. 

To  this  principle  there  are  of  course  exceptions  in 
times  of  acute  crises;  when  the  minister  happens  to 


GOOD  WILL  IN  SOCIETY:   REFORM  215 

be  at  the  same  time  an  expert  in  politics,  or  economics,  or 
social  reform ;  or  when  no  layman  or  group  of  laymen  can 
be  induced  to  take  the  lead  in  application  of  Christian 
principles  to  crying  social  needs  and  wrongs.  Then  the 
minister  may  be  forgiven  if  he  temporarily  leaves  the 
ministry  of  the  word  to  serve  tables ;  if  he  neglects  the 
cultivation  of  sound  convictions  and  earnest  sentiments 
in  others  to  become  himself  on  his  own  account  a  leader 
in  a  Republican,  or  Democratic,  or  Progressive,  or 
Prohibition  campaign ;  or  to  take  sides  in  a  lockout  or 
strike ;  or  to  close  this  or  that  specific  saloon. 

Of  course  all  that  has  been  said  about  the  minister  as 
minister  in  the  pulpit,  and  in  his  pastoral  relations,  does 
not  interfere  with  the  minister's  doing  his  part  as  a 
citizen  side  by  side  with  his  fellow-citizens  of  his  own 
and  other  parishes  in  direct  political,  economic,  moral 
and  social  reform. 

Mr.  Riis  was  offered  repeatedly  political  offices  in 
which  to  carry  on  his  fight  against  the  slum.  But  he 
invariably  declined  with  the  remark  that  he  could  do 
most  by  sticking  to  his  last  as  a  reporter. 

Unless  he  be  an  exceptional  man  in  exceptional  circum- 
stances the  preacher  will  do  best  to  follow  his  example. 
Direct  activity  in  specific  measures  of  reform  is  not  a  bur- 
den to  be  laid  on  the  shoulders  of  every  preacher :  and  it 


2l6  THE   GOSPEL   OF   GOOD   WILL 

is  grossly  unfair  to  judge  the  ministry  by  such  an  expecta- 
tion. If  he  is  fitted  to  be  a  preacher  at  all  his  chief 
efficiency  will  come  through  the  convictions  and  senti- 
ments he  imparts  and  quickens  in  the  men  and  women 
to  whom  he  ministers. 


VIII 
FELLOWSHIP   IN   GOOD   WILL:    THE  CHURCH 

"The  new  Church  Universal,  then,  would  be  the  militant, 
aggressive  body  of  the  reborn,  whose  mission  it  was  to  send  out 
into  the  life  of  the  nation  transformed  men  and  women  who  would 
labor  unremittingly  for  the  Kingdom  of  God.  The  supreme  func- 
tion of  the  church  was  to  inspire  —  to  inspire  individuals  to  will- 
ing service  for  the  cause,  the  Cause  of  Democracy,  the  fellowship 
of  mankind."  WINSTON  CHURCHILL,  The  Inside  of  the  Cup,  p.  366. 

THE  book  from  which  our  final  text  and  lesson  is 
taken  strikes  simultaneously  two  notes :  service  of  the 
fellowship  of  mankind,  and  intellectual  honesty.  The 
former  is  our  theme.  A  generation  ago  the  latter  was 
the  burning  issue.  It  is  important  still.  Good  Will 
has  no  affinity  with  falsehood.  Yet  that  is  not  the 
burning  question  to-day.  A  man,  as  the  result  of  early 
training  and  environment,  may  hold  views  about  such 
matters  as  the  virgin  birth  which  critical,  scientific  his- 
tory finds  it  impossible  to  accept :  and  at  the  same  time 
be  a  devoted  and  accepted  servant  of  Good  Will,  a  man 
the  latchet  of  whose  shoes  the  critical,  scientific  his- 

217 


2l8  THE   GOSPEL  OF   GOOD   WILL 

torian  is  not  worthy  to  unloose.  And  on  the  contrary 
a  man  may  be  scientifically  correct  in  his  views  about 
these  matters,  and  still  be  at  the  farthest  remove  from 
that  Good  Will  in  which  vital  Christianity  consists. 

Our  lesson  from  this  book  is  in  two  parts :  the  first, 
negative  and  specific,  showing  precisely  what  the  true 
Church  and  its  members  cannot  be  —  selfish  plunderers 
of  their  fellows  under  respectable  disguise :  the  second 
positive  but  abstract,  showing  the  attitude  toward  life 
the  Church  and  its  members  must  take :  and  that  for 
this  attitude  there  can  be  no  dogmatic,  traditional,  or 
ritualistic  substitute. 

The  first  part,  the  description  of  what  the  church  can- 
not be  and  cannot  tolerate  in  its  members  without  its 
own  stultification  is  put  into  the  mouth  of  a  working- 
man,  Garvin,  who  has  lost  his  fortune,  and  is  in  danger 
of  losing  his  child,  as  the  result  of  the  dishonest  dealings 
of  the  prominent  churchman,.  Eldon  Parr. 

" '  Well,  I  was  a  Traction  sucker,  all  right,  and  I  guess 
you  wouldn't  have  to  walk  more  than  two  blocks  to  find 
another  in  this  neighborhood.  You  think  Eldon  Parr's 
a  big,  noble  man,  don't  you?  You're  proud  to  run  his 
church,  ain't  you?  You  wouldn't  believe  there  was  a 
time  when  I  thought  he  was  a  big  man,  when  I  was  kind 
of  proud  to  live  in  the  same  city  with  him.  She'll  tell 


FELLOWSHIP   IN  GOOD   WILL:     THE   CHURCH        2 19 

you  how  I  used  to  come  home  from  the  store  and  talk 
about  him  after  supper,  and  hope  that  the  kid  there 
would  grow  up  into  a  financier  like  Eldon  Parr.  The 
boys  at  the  store  talked  about  him  :  he  sort  of  laid  hold 
on  our  imaginations  with  the  library  he  gave,  and  Elm- 
wood  Park,  and  the  picture  of  the  big  organ  in  your 
church  in  the  newspapers  —  and  sometimes,  Mary  and 
me  and  the  boy,  in  the  baby  carriage,  on  Sunday  after- 
noons we  used  to  walk  around  by  his  house,  just  to  look 
at  it.  You  couldn't  have  got  me  to  believe  that  Eldon 
Parr  would  put  his  name  to  anything  that  wasn't  straight. 
"'Then  Consolidated  Tractions  came  along,  with 
Parr's  name  behind  it.  Everybody  was  talking  about 
it,  and  how  it  was  payin'  eight  per  cent,  from  the  start, 
and  extra  dividends  and  all,  and  what  a  marvel  of  finance 
it  was.  Before  the  kid  came,  as  soon  as  I  married  her, 
we  began  to  save  up  for  him.  We  didn't  go  to  the  the- 
aters or  nothing.  Well,  I  put  it  all,  five  thousand  dol- 
lars, into  Consolidated.  She'll  tell  you  how  we  sat  up 
half  the  night  after  we  got  the  first  dividend  talking 
about  how  we'd  send  the  kid  to  college,  and  after  we 
went  to  bed  we  couldn't  sleep.  It  wasn't  more  than  a 
year  after  that  we  began  to  hear  things  —  and  we 
couldn't  sleep  for  sure,  and  the  dividends  stopped  and 
the  stock  tumbled.  Even  then  I  wouldn't  believe  it  of 


220  THE   GOSPEL   OF   GOOD   WILL 

him,  that  he'd  take  poor  people's  money  that  way  when 
he  had  more  than  he  knew  what  to  do  with.  I  made  up 
my  mind  if  I  went  down  to  see  him  and  told  him  about 
it,  he'd  make  it  right.  I  asked  the  boss  for  an  hour  off, 
and  headed  for  the  Parr  building  —  I've  been  there  as 
much  as  fifty  times  since  —  but  he  don't  bother  with 
small  fry.  The  clerks  laugh  when  they  see  me  coming. 
I  got  sick  worryin',  and  when  I  was  strong  enough  to  be 
around  they'd  filled  my  job  at  the  grocery,  and  it  wasn't 
long  before  we  had  to  move  out  of  our  little  home  in 
Alder  Street.  We've  been  movin'  ever  since,'  he  cried, 
and  tears  of  weakness  were  in  his  eyes,  'until  we've  come 
to  this,  and  we'll  have  to  get  out  of  here  in  another  week. 
God  knows  where  we'll  go  then. 

" '  Then  I  found  out  how  he  done  it  —  from  a  lawyer. 
The  lawyer  laughed  at  me,  too.  Say,  do  you  wonder  I 
ain't  got  much  use  for  your  church  people  ?  Parr  got  a 
corporation  lawyer  named  Langmaid  —  he's  another  one 
of  your  millionaire  crooks  —  to  fix  it  up  and  get  around 
the  law  and  keep  him  out  of  jail.  And  then  they  had  to 
settle  with  Tom  Beatty  for  something  like  three  hun- 
dred thousand.  You  know  who  Beatty  is  —  he  owns 
this  city  —  his  saloon's  around  here  on  Elm  Street. 
All  the  crooks  had  to  be  squared.  Say,'  he  demanded 
aggressively,  'are  Parr  and  Langmaid  any  better  than 


FELLOWSHIP   IN   GOOD   WILL  I     THE   CHURCH        221 

Beatty,  or  any  of  the  hold-up  men  Beatty  covers? 
There's  a  street-walker  over  there  in  those  flats  that's 
got  a  million  times  more  chance  to  get  to  heaven  —  if 
there  is  any  —  than  those  financiers,  as  they  call  'em- 
selves  !  I  ain't  much  on  high  finance,  but  I've  got  some 
respect  for  a  second  story  man  now  —  he  takes  some 
risks !  I'll  tell  you  what  they  did,  they  bought  up  the 
short  car  lines  that  didn't  pay  and  sold  'em  to  themselves 
for  fifty  times  as  much  as  they  were  worth ;  and  they 
got  controlling  interests  in  the  big  lines  and  leased  'em 
to  themselves  with  dividends  guaranteed  as  high  as 
eighteen  per  cent.  They  capitalized  the  Consolidated 
for  more  millions  than  a  little  man  like  me  can  think  of, 
and  we  handed  'em  our  money  because  we  thought 
they  were  honest.  We  thought  the  men  who  listed  the 
stock  on  the  Exchange  were  honest.  And  when  the 
crash  came,  they'd  got  away  with  the  swag,  like  any 
common  housebreakers.  There  were  dummy  directors, 
and  a  dummy  president.  Eldon  Parr  didn't  have  a 
share  —  sold  out  everything  when  she  went  over  two 
hundred,  but  you  bet  he  kept  his  stock  in  the  leased  lines, 
which  guarantee  more  than  they  earn.  He  cleaned  up 
five  million,  they  say.  .  .  .  My  money  —  the  money 
that  might  give  that  boy  fresh  air,  and  good  doctors.  .  . 
Say,  you  believe  in  hell,  don't  you?  You  tell  Eldon 


222  THE   GOSPEL   OF   GOOD   WILL 

Parr  to  keep  his  charity,  —  he  can't  send  any  of  it  here. 
And  you'd  better  go  back  to  that  church  of  his  and  pray 
to  keep  his  soul  out  of  hell.'" 

As  I  have  said  the  second  part  is  more  abstract.  It 
isn't  so  easy  to  draw  worthily  the  individual  saint  as  it 
is  the  individual  sinner:  for  the  sinner  is  small,  with 
sharp  outlines  and  clear-cut  angles ;  while  the  man  who 
lives  in  Good  Will  is  large,  symmetrical,  well  rounded, 
and  therefore  a  difficult  subject  for  a  striking  portrait. 
Even  in  abstract  description,  however,  the  true  church 
and  churchman  tower  above  the  mean  manipulator 
of  securities,  the  donor  of  parks,  playgrounds,  libraries 
and  settlement  houses  with  money  wrung  from  the 
plunder  of  the  poor.  I  cite  his  long  attempt  to  describe 
the  true  church,  as  a  vague  feeling  after  rather  than  a 
definite  rinding  of  the  church  as  the  fellowship  of  Good 
Will. 

"He  began  by  referring  to  the  hope  with  which  he  had 
come  to  St.  John's  and  the  gradual  realization  that  the 
church  was  a  failure  —  a  dismal  failure  when  compared 
to  the  high  ideal  of  her  Master.  By  her  fruits  she  should 
be  known  and  judged.  From  the  first  he  had  contem- 
plated, with  a  heavy  heart,  the  sin  and  misery  at  their 
very  gates.  Not  three  blocks  distant  children  were  learn- 
ing vice  in  the  streets,  little  boys  of  seven  and  eight, 


FELLOWSHIP  IN  GOOD   WILL:     THE   CHURCH         223 

underfed  and  anaemic,  were  driven  out  before  dawn  to 
sell  newspapers,  little  girls  thrust  forth  to  haunt  the 
saloons  and  beg,  while  their  own  children  were  warmed 
and  fed.  While  their  own  daughters  were  guarded, 
young  women  in  Dalton  Street  were  forced  to  sell  them- 
selves into  a  life  which  meant  slow  torture,  inevitable 
early  death.  Hopeless  husbands  and  wives  were  cast 
up  like  driftwood  by  the  cruel,  resistless  flood  of  modern 
civilization  —  the  very  civilization  which  yielded  their 
wealth  and  luxury ;  the  civilization  which  professed  the 
Spirit  of  Christ,  and  yet  was  pitiless. 

"  He  confessed  to  them  that  for  a  long  time  he  had  been 
blind  to  the  truth,  had  taken  the  inherited,  unchristian 
view  that  the  disease  which  caused  vice  and  poverty 
might  not  be  cured,  though  its  ulcers  might  be  alleviated. 
He  had  not,  indeed,  clearly  perceived  and  recognized 
the  disease.  He  had  regarded  Dalton  Street  in  a  very 
special  sense  as  a  reproach  to  St.  John's,  but  now  he  saw 
that  all  such  neighborhoods  were  in  reality  a  reproach  to 
the  city,  to  the  state,  to  the  nation.  True  Christianity 
and  Democracy  were  identical,  and  the  congregation  of 
St.  John's,  as  professed  Christians  and  citizens,  were 
doubly  responsible,  inasmuch  as  they  not  only  made  no 
protest  or  attempt  to  change  a  government  which 
permitted  the  Dalton  Streets  to  exist,  but  inasmuch 


224  THE   GOSPEL  OF   GOOD   WILL 

also  as,  —  directly  or  indirectly,  —  they  derived  a  profit 
from  conditions  which  were  an  abomination  to  God. 
It  would  be  but  an  idle  mockery  for  them  to  go  and 
build  a  settlement  house,  if  they  did  not  first  reform 
their  lives. 

"  When  he,  their  rector,  had  gone  to  Dalton  Street  to 
invite  the  poor  and  wretched  into  God's  Church,  he  was 
met  by  the  scornful  question :  'Are  the  Christians  of 
the  churches  any  better  than  we?  Christians  own  the 
grim  tenements  in  which  we  live,  the  saloons  and  brothels 
by  which  we  are  surrounded,  which  devour  our  chil- 
dren. Christians  own  the  establishments  which  pay  us 
starvation  wages ;  profit  by  politics,  and  take  toll  from 
our  very  vice ;  evade  the  laws  and  reap  millions,  while 
we  are  sent  to  jail.  Is  their  God  a  God  who  will  lift  us 
out  of  our  misery  and  distress?  Are  their  churches  for 
the  poor?  Are  not  the  very  pews  in  which  they  sit  as 
closed  to  us  as  their  houses  ? ' 

"  One  inevitable  conclusion  of  such  a  revelation  was  that 
he  had  not  preached  to  them  the  vital  element  of  Chris- 
tianity. And  the  very  fact  that  his  presentation  of  re- 
ligion had  left  many  indifferent  or  dissatisfied  was  proof 
positive  that  he  had  dwelt  upon  non-essentials,  laid 
emphasis  upon  the  mistaken  interpretations  of  past 
ages.  There  were  those  within  the  Church  who  were 


FELLOWSHIP   IN   GOOD   WILL:     THE   CHURCH         225 

content  with  this,  who  —  like  the  Pharisees  of  old  — 
welcomed  a  religion  which  did  not  interfere  with  their 
complacency,  with  their  pursuit  of  pleasure  and  wealth, 
with  their  special  privileges ;  welcomed  a  church  which 
didn't  raise  her  voice  against  the  manner  of  their  lives  — 
against  the  order,  the  Golden  Calf  which  they  had  set 
up,  which  did  not  accuse  them  of  deliberately  retarding 
the  coming  of  the  Kingdom  of  God. 

"  Ah,  that  religion  was  not  religion,  for  religion  was  a 
spiritual,  not  a  material  affair.  In  that  religion,  vainly 
designed  by  man  as  a  compromise  between  God  and 
Mammon,  there  was  none  of  the  divine  discontent  of 
the  true  religion  of  the  Spirit,  no  need  of  the  rebirth  of 
the  soul.  And  those  who  held  it  might  well  demand,  with 
Nicodemus  and  the  rulers  of  the  earth,  'How  can  these 
things  be?' 

"  Truth  might  no  longer  be  identified  with  Tradition, 
and  the  day  was  past  when  councils  and  synods  might 
determine  it  for  all  mankind.  The  era  of  forced  ac- 
ceptance of  philosophical  doctrines  and  dogmas  was 
past,  and  that  of  freedom,  of  spiritual  rebirth,  of  vicari- 
ous suffering,  of  willing  sacrifice  and  service  for  a  Cause 
was  upon  them.  That  cause  was  Democracy.  Christ 
was  uniquely  the  Son  of  God  because  he  had  lived  and 
suffered  and  died  in  order  to  reveal  to  the  world  the  mean- 
Q 


226  THE   GOSPEL  OF   GOOD   WILL 

ing  of  this  life  and  of  the  hereafter  —  the  meaning  not 
only  for  the  individual,  but  for  society  as  well.  Noth- 
ing might  be  added  to  or  subtracted  from  that  message 
—  it  was  complete. 

"  True  faith  was  simply  trusting — trusting  that  Christ 
gave  to  the  world  the  revelation  of  God's  plan.  And 
the  Savior  himself  had  pointed  out  the  proof :  '  If  any 
man  do  his  will,  he  shall  know  of  the  doctrine,  whether 
it  be  of  God,  or  whether  I  speak  for  myself.'  Christ 
had  repeatedly  rebuked  those  literal  minds  which  had 
demanded  material  evidence :  true  faith  spurned  it, 
just  as  true  friendship,  true  love  between  man  and  man, 
true  trust  scorned  a  written  bond.  To  paraphrase  St. 
James'  words,  faith  without  trust  is  dead  —  because 
faith  without  trust  is  impossible.  God  is  a  Spirit,  only 
to  be  recognized  in  the  Spirit,  and  every  one  of  the 
Savior's  utterances  were  —  not  of  the  flesh,  of  the  man 
—  but  of  the  Spirit  within  him.  'He  that  hath  seen 
me  hath  seen  the  Father';  and  'Why  callest  thou  me 
good  ?  none  is  good  save  one,  that  is  God ' ;  the  Spirit, 
the  Universal  Meaning  of  Life,  incarnate  in  the  human 
Jesus. 

"  To  be  born  again  was  to  overcome  our  spiritual  blind- 
ness, and  then,  and  then  only,  we  might  behold  the  Spirit 
shining  in  the  soul  of  Christ. 


FELLOWSHIP   IN   GOOD   WILL!     THE   CHURCH         2 27 

"  The  secret,  then,  lay  in  a  presentation  of  the  divine 
message  which  would  convince  and  transform  and  elec- 
trify those  who  heard  it  to  action  —  a  presentation  of  the 
message  in  terms  which  the  age  could  grasp. 

"  No  man  might  venture  to  predict  the  details  of  the 
future  organization  of  the  united  Church,  although  St. 
Paul  himself  had  sketched  it  in  broad  outline:  every 
worker,  lay  and  clerical,  labouring  according  to  his 
gift,  teachers,  executives,  ministers,  visitors,  mission- 
aries, healers  of  sick  and  despondent  souls.  But  the 
supreme  function  of  the  Church  was  to  inspire  —  to 
inspire  individuals  to  willing  service  for  the  cause,  the 
cause  of  Democracy,  the  fellowship  of  mankind.  If  she 
failed  to  inspire,  the  Church  would  wither  and  perish. 
And  therefore  she  must  revive  again  the  race  of  in- 
spirers,  prophets,  modern  Apostles  to  whom  this  gift 
was  given,  going  on  their  rounds,  awaking  cities  and 
arousing  whole  country-sides. 

"  But  whence  —  it  might  be  demanded  by  the  cynical 
—  were  the  prophets  to  come  ?  Prophets  could  not  be 
produced  by  training  and  education ;  prophets  must  be 
born.  Reborn,  —  that  was  the  word.  Let  the  Church 
have  faith.  Once  her  Cause  were  perceived,  once  her 
whole  energy  were  directed  towards  its  fulfilment,  the 
prophets  would  arise,  out  of  the  East  and  out  of  the 


228  THE   GOSPEL   OF   GOOD   WILL 

West,  to  stir  mankind  to  higher  effort,  to  denounce 
fearlessly  the  shortcomings  and  evils  of  the  age.  They 
had  not  failed  in  past  ages,  when  the  world  had  fallen 
into  hopelessness,  indifference  and  darkness.  And  they 
would  not  fail  now. 

"  The  meaning  of  life,  then,  was  service,  and  by  life  our 
Lord  did  not  mean  mere  human  existence,  which  is  only 
a  part  of  life.  The  Kingdom  of  heaven  is  a  state,  and 
may  begin  here.  And  that  which  we  saw  around  us  was 
only  one  expression  of  that  eternal  life  —  a  medium  to 
work  through,  towards  God.  All  was  service,  both  here 
and  hereafter,  and  he  that  had  not  discovered  that  the 
joy  of  service  was  the  only  happiness  worth  living  for 
could  have  no  conception  of  the  Kingdom.  To  those  who 
knew,  there  was  no  happiness  like  being  able  to  say,  'I 
have  found  my  place  in  God's  plan,  /  am  of  use.1  Such 
was  salvation." 

The  essential  contrast  between  the  church  of  Eldon 
Parr  and  the  new  Church  Universal,  as  here  set  forth, 
is  the  contrast  between  a  church  composed  of  plunderers 
of  the  weak  and  poor,  and  a  church  devoted  to  the  ser- 
vice of  the  Good  Will  which  includes  and  cares  for  the 
humblest  and  most  defenceless  of  our  brothers  and  sisters. 

In  preceding  chapters  we  have  said  nothing  about  the 
Church,  the  Bible,  the  Sabbath,  the  Sacraments,  public 


FELLOWSHIP   IN   GOOD   WILL:     THE   CHURCH         22Q 

worship,  prayer,  missions,  or  the  ministry  as  a  con- 
secrated order.  Without  any  of  these  aids  Good  Will 
may  be  done,  the  Kingdom  may  come,  through  the 
obedience  of  individuals  and  their  informal  cooperation 
with  each  other.  Not  until  we  recognize  this  fact  can 
we  appreciate  the  real  mission  and  true  value  of  these 
agencies.  They  have  no  magical  virtue  or  mysterious 
efficacy  in  and  of  themselves ;  and  the  claim  that  they 
have  brings  them  into  deserved  disrepute.  Apart  from 
them  all  a  man  may  live  in  and  by  and  for  Good  Will ; 
and  if  he  does  he  is  a  Christian.  To  deny  him  that 
title,  and  to  insist  on  something  more  as  essential  is  to 
miss  the  whole  point  of  the  Gospel  of  Good  Will.  Who- 
ever doeth  that  Will  is  brother  and  sister  and  mother  of 
Christ;  though  he  never  enter  a  church,  or  open  a 
Bible,  or  say  a  verbal  prayer,  or  partake  of  the  sacra- 
ments, or  do  or  refrain  from  doing  a  single  thing  on 
Sunday  which  he  would  not  do  or  refrain  from  doing  on 
the  other  days  of  the  week. 

Still,  while  not  essential  as  ends,  all  these  things  are 
precious  means  of  keeping  alive  in  one's  own  heart,  and 
enkindling  in  the  hearts  of  others,  the  love  and  service 
of  Good  Will.  There  is  no  other  important  interest  or 
enthusiasm  that  attempts  to  dispense  with  organized 
association.  Athletics,  business,  literature,  history,  art, 


230  THE   GOSPEL   OF   GOOD   WILL 

science,  banking,  engineering,  manufacture,  agriculture, 
education,  labor,  all  have  their  clubs,  associations,  con- 
ferences, conventions,  organized  locally,  nationally  and 
many  of  them  internationally.  For  the  same  reason 
men  and  women  who  enjoy  Good  Will  desire  to  share  it 
with  each  other ;  profit  by  each  other's  experience  and 
insight;  provide  for  its  communication  to  their  chil- 
dren, and  its  extension  to  those  outside  its  fold.  Worth- 
less, positively  mischievous,  spiritually  deadly,  when  set 
up  as  an  end  in  itself,  the  church  as  a  means  of  fellow- 
ship in  Good  Will  is  so  natural,  so  useful,  so  necessary, 
that  practically  all  who  have  that  Will  at  heart,  and  see 
the  church  as  the  provision  for  its  expression  and  prop- 
agation ;  unless  prevented  by  some  false  attitude  on 
its  part,  or  some  misunderstanding  on  their  own  part; 
will  desire  to  share  and  support  its  worship  and  its  work. 
One  of  the  preacher's  most  important  tasks  is  to 
protect  the  church  from  the  misconceptions  which  have 
arisen  about  it.  When  a  convert  asked  Billy  Sunday 
"Do  I  have  to  join  the  church?"  he  replied,  "No,  you 
don't  have  to  take  a  steamer  to  go  to  Europe.  The 
swimming  is  good."  Neither  the  steamer  nor  the  church 
is  helped  by  attributing  to  it  a  magical  value  of  its  own : 
its  value  as  an  instrument  to  ends  greater  than  itself  is 
in  each  case  ample  justification.  Joining  the  church  is 


FELLOWSHIP   IN   GOOD   WILL:     THE   CHURCH         231 

the  normal  and  usual  corollary  of  accepting  Good  Will 
as  the  support  and  guide  of  life.  But  to  preach  the 
church  as  the  main  proposition,  is  to  obscure  the  great 
spiritual  issues  which  it  is  its  function  to  proclaim.  To 
increase  men's  faith  and  obedience  and  trust  in  Good 
Will  should  be  the  preacher's  single  aim;  and  if  that 
aim  be  genuine  and  effective,  additions  to  membership 
in  the  visible  organization  which  represents  it  will  follow 
as  warmth  follows  sunshine.  But  to  aim  at  member- 
ship directly  for  its  own  sake,  is  like  attempting  to  warm 
a  room  by  breathing  on  the  bulb  of  the  thermometer. 

Christian  unity  consists  in  community  of  Good  Will : 
the  sense  of  oneness  of  aim  that  binds  together  all  who 
are  striving  for  the  common  good.  It  tends  toward 
church  unity :  yet  is  not  dependent  on  it,  and  need  not 
be  postponed  until  church  unity  is  realized. 

In  so  far  as  racial,  cultural,  or  temperamental  differ- 
ences call  for  different  social,  intellectual,  and  devotional 
expression  Good  Will  welcomes  and  supports  diversity 
in  polity,  doctrine  and  worship.  In  so  far  as  economy 
and  efficiency  demand  centralization,  as  they  certainly 
do  in  rural  regions,  Good  Will  calls  for  church  union,  or 
at  least  church  federation. 

So  long  as  denominational  differences  last,  the  member 
of  a  denominational  church,  if  he  is  full  of  Good  Will, 


232  THE   GOSPEL   OF  GOOD   WILL 

will  have  the  feeling  toward  his  denomination  that  a 
soldier  has  toward  his  particular  company :  —  some- 
thing a  little  more  intimate  than  his  feeling  for  the  army, 
yet  entirely  subordinate  to  that.  He  will  expect  the 
soldiers  of  other  companies  to  be  as  loyal  to  their 
companies  as  he  is  to  his :  when  the  good  of  the  service 
requires  it  he  will  readily  transfer  his  membership  to 
another  company,  and  welcome  men  from  other  com- 
panies to  his  own:  cherishing  as  the  deepest  bond  of 
unity  loyalty  to  the  army  as  a  whole  of  which  the  several 
companies  are  merely  constituent  parts.  Good  Will  is 
inclusive,  not  divisive ;  and  in  due  time  will  develop  the 
outward  unity  all  its  children  so  eagerly  desire. 

The  Bible  is  not  infallible;  not  everything  in  it  is 
scientific,  historical,  or  even  final  moral  truth.  Good 
Will  came  into  the  world  before  the  Bible;  made  the 
history  the  Bible  records ;  lived  the  life  the  Bible  por- 
trays ;  and  is  as  much  bigger,  stronger,  richer  than  the 
Bible  as  facts  are  bigger  than  records;  as  deeds  are 
stronger  than  words ;  as  life  is  richer  than  letters. 

The  moment  we  see  this,  however,  we  begin  to  see  how 
marvellous  a  help  the  Bible  is  to  all  who  seek  to  live  hi 
Good  Will.  Once  we  get  a  vital,  first-hand  impulse  to 
Good  Will  from  a  living  person  or  group  of  persons, 
who  are  doing  it;  then  the  example,  the  teaching,  the 


FELLOWSHIP    IN    GOOD    WILL  :     THE    CHURCH         233 

spirit  of  those  who  lived  this  life  long  ago,  comes  with 
an  inspiration,  an  encouragement,  an  illumination  which 
throws  floods  of  light  on  the  path  Good  Will  now  calls  us 
to  follow.  The  Bible  is  more  helpful  than  the  precepts 
and  illustrations  of  modern  doers  of  Good  Will,  because 
of  the  greater  freshness  and  simplicity  of  characters  and 
situations ;  because  of  the  more  thorough  winnowing  of 
essentials  from  non-essentials  wrought  by  time  and 
art.  In  these  writings,  not  preserved  by  miracle  from 
the  incidental  errors  and  limitations  of  the  times  in  which 
they  were  composed,  but  cherished  with  reverent  affec- 
tion by  three  score  generations  of  men,  there  is  such  a 
clearness  of  issue  between  Good  Will  and  the  evil  forces 
that  are  opposed  to  it,  that  we  get  a  sharpness  of  out- 
line, a  naivete,  which  no  later  literature  has  been  able 
to  approach.  The  same  spirit  animates  these  writings 
that  animates  the  words  and  deeds,  the  songs  and 
speeches,  the  letters  and  discourses  of  Christian  men 
to-day :  but  in  them  this  spirit  shines  through  a  far  more 
transparent  medium,  and  is  obstructed  by  less  irrelevant 
detail.  Furthermore  the  Bible  contains  the  original 
records  of  the  words  and  deeds,  the  life  and  death,  of 
the  great  Master  of  Good  Will,  and  the  acts  and  writings 
of  those  who  caught  their  inspiration  from  him  at  first 
hand. 


234  THE   GOSPEL   OF   GOOD  WILL 

A  man  can  be  a  Christian  without  reading  the  Bible : 
he  can  be  a  much  better  one  by  reading  it :  and,  other 
things  being  equal,  the  more  he  reads  and  reflects  upon 
it  the  better  Christian  he  will  be.  It  is,  and  will  remain 
forever,  the  supreme  literature  of  Good  Will.  The 
unique  supremacy  of  the  Bible  is  best  maintained 
by  a  frank  and  thorough  criticism  which  abandons 
all  false  defences ;  admits  all  sorts  of  human  blemishes ; 
and  in  spite  of  them  all;  yes,  on  account  of  them 
all,  sees  there  a  transparent  revelation  of  the  glory 
of  Good  Will;  which  we  more  sophisticated  moderns 
seem  powerless  to  achieve.  Put  the  Bible  on  its  in- 
trinsic merits;  and  it  will  fare  better  and  rank  higher 
than  it  ever  has  under  the  claims  of  a  miraculous  in- 
fallibility. A  preacher  who  does  not  know  his  Bible  as 
a  mathematician  knows  his  multiplication  table;  and 
who  does  not  use  its  examples,  its  precepts,  its  phrases, 
as  constantly,  will  miss  his  best  material  for  illustration 
and  inspiration. 

The  Sabbath  likewise  is  a  dreary  end ;  a  most  useful 
and  helpful  means.  It  is  the  great  opportunity  to  re- 
member, reenforce  and  express  Good  Will.  The  Sab- 
bath was  made  for  man,  not  man  for  the  Sabbath,  as 
Jesus  emphatically  declares. 

Ordinarily    there  are  better    things   than  work  or 


FELLOWSHIP   IN   GOOD   WILL:     THE   CHURCH         235 

play  for  Sunday.  Rest,  change,  simple  social  inter- 
course, neighborly  helpfulness,  reading,  reflection,  wor- 
ship, prayer,  are  better  for  the  individual  and  for  society 
than  a  continuation  of  the  labors  and  sports  of  the 
week  days;  and  therefore  Good  Will  invites  to  these 
Sabbath  occupations  all  who  seek  its  fullest  fellowship 
in  highest  consecration.  Not  that  work  and  play 
on  that  day  are  intrinsically  and  universally  bad;  or 
that  the  clerk  or  bookkeeper  kept  at  his  desk  all  the 
week  should  not  have  his  game  of  golf  or  tennis  on  Sun- 
day afternoon :  but  that  friendliness  and  rest,  meditation 
and  worship  are  ordinarily  better :  —  that  is  the  general 
ground  on  which  Good  Will  claims  that  these  better 
things  shall  have  first  place  in  our  plans  for  Sabbath 
observance.  Because  a  worshipful  Sunday  is  helpful 
to  that  individual  and  social  well-being  which  is  the  ob- 
ject of  Good  Will ;  and  a  secular  Sunday  is  injurious  to 
individual  and  social  well-being ;  therefore  the  highest 
type  of  Christian  will  aim  as  a  rule  to  put  worship  into 
his  Sunday  plans  and  keep  distraction  out. 

Friendship  has  its  hand  clasp :  affection  its  kiss :  all 
sorts  of  clubs,  associations  and  fraternities  have  their 
initiations  and  banquets.  In  all  these  cases  the  things 
done  are  not  essential;  nor  possessed  of  mysterious 
efficacy.  They  are  outward  and  visible  symbols  of  an 


236  THE   GOSPEL  OF   GOOD   WILL 

inner  loyalty  and  devotion.  Yet  few  friends  refuse  to 
shake  hands;  few  lovers  dispense  with  the  kiss;  few 
fraternities  or  orders  omit  all  rites  and  ceremonies. 

The  sacraments  of  baptism  and  the  Lord's  Supper 
bear  a  similar  relation  to  fellowship  in  Good  Will.  Of 
themselves  they  are  nothing;  but  taken  in  faith;  in 
other  words,  regarded  as  seals,  symbols  and  signs  of 
our  fellowship  with  Christ  in  Good  Will,  our  gratitude 
and  our  devotion  to  him,  they  give  a  public  confession, 
a  social  recognition,  to  this  fellowship  which  make  it 
at  once  more  intimate  and  more  objective.  One  can  be 
a  Christian  without  them;  as  a  friend  can  be  a  friend 
without  ever  shaking  hands ;  or  as  a  lover  can  be  a  lover 
without  ever  kissing  his  beloved.  But  one  can  be  a 
more  assured;  a  more  influential;  a  more  sociable; 
a  more  substantial  Christian  by  accepting  and  utilizing 
the  symbols  which  reach  across  the  seas  and  the  cen- 
turies and  link  us  to  Christ,  and  to  all  who  have  received 
these  symbols  from  him,  or  his  appointed  representa- 
tives. 

Public  worship  is  not  essential  to  that  Good  Will  in 
which  Christianity  consists.  One  can  be  a  Christian 
without  it.  Yet  if  one  is  in  earnest  about  Good  Will ; 
he  will  desire  from  time  to  time  to  call  it  consciously  to 
mind ;  reconsecrate  himself  to  its  service ;  and  share  his 


FELLOWSHIP  IN   GOOD   WILL:     THE   CHURCH         237 

enthusiasm  for  it  with  like-minded  men  and  women. 
That  is  precisely  the  opportunity  which  public  worship 
affords.  The  congregation  and  each  individual  is  lifted 
into  an  attitude  and  atmosphere  in  which  Good  Will  is 
held  as  the  supreme  object  of  reverence  and  service ; 
the  supreme  guide  to  aspiration  and  conduct.  One  who 
habitually  enters  into  this  attitude  and  atmosphere  will 
develop  Good  Will  and  express  it  toward  others,  far 
more  effectively,  systematically  and  persistently  than  one 
who  depends  on  its  fortuitous  occurrence  to  his  individ- 
ual mind  and  heart.  As  the  years,  the  decades,  the 
generations  pass,  the  man  and  the  family  that  unites 
in  public  worship  will  become  very  different  from  the 
man  and  the  family  that  do  not  reenforce  the  chance 
promptings  of  the  heart  by  this  systematic  means. 
One  can  be  so  much  better  a  Christian  with  than  without 
such  aid ;  that  he  who  deliberately  neglects  it,  choosing 
as  he  does  less  rather  than  more  of  the  power  of  Good 
Will  over  his  life,  finds  the  little  Christianity  that  he 
has  fast  slipping  away  from  him;  and  spiritual  bank- 
ruptcy staring  him  in  the  face. 

Even  verbal  prayer  likewise  is  not  of  the  essence  of 
Christianity.  As  Jesus  repeatedly  tells  us,  a  man  who 
does  Good  Will  without  ever  consciously  saying  "Lord, 
Lord,"  is  better  far  than  the  man  who  is  explicitly 


238  THE   GOSPEL  OF   GOOD   WILL 

prayerful  but  disobedient.  To  the  men  of  silent  obedience 
admission  to  the  Kingdom  may  come  as  a  great  sur- 
prise to  themselves ;  and  a  great  shock  to  their  orthodox 
critics ;  but  we  have  Jesus'  word  and  our  own  insight 
that  it  surely  comes.  Yet  a  man  is  very  foolish  who 
does  not  pray.  As  Arthur  Balfour  once  said  at  the 
conclusion  of  a  long  and  rather  inconsequential  dis- 
cussion on  prayer,  "But  to  be  at  his  best  a  man  must 
pray."  Prayer  is  a  device  for  keeping  our  thoughts, 
our  aims,  our  words,  our  acts,  consciously  under  the 
guidance  and  control  of  Good  Will.  It  Is  about  as 
necessary  to  the  best  Christian  living  as  contact  with 
the  wire  is  to  an  electric  car.  The  car  may  move  in 
the  desired  direction  without  such  a  contact;  but  its 
movement  under  such  chance  propulsion  will  be  fitful, 
costly,  insignificant,  unreliable.  A  Christian  conceiv- 
ably might  serve  Good  Will  without  praying;  but  his 
service  would  be  intermittent  and  spasmodic.  Who- 
ever is  deeply  in  earnest  about  Good  Will,  will  be  eager 
to  keep  it  clear  before  his  mind,  warm  in  his  heart,  com- 
pelling behind  his  will ;  and  prayer  is  the  approved  de- 
vice for  doing  these  things. 

Prayer  is  not  a  blank  check  on  omnipotence,  by  pre- 
senting which,  properly  endorsed,  anybody  can  secure 
anything  he  happens  to  want,  and  is  willing  to 


FELLOWSHIP  IN   GOOD   WILL:     THE   CHURCH         239 

ask  for  in  that  form.  Petition  is  a  proper  part  of 
prayer  —  even  petition  for  specific  things ;  just  as 
petition  is  a  perfectly  proper  part  of  the  intercourse 
between  friends;  but  it  is  not  the  principal  part.  A 
friend  whose  chief  relation  to  us  consisted  in  asking  for 
this  or  that  special  favor  or  specific  object,  would  not  be 
one  whose  disinterested  devotion  we  should  rate  very 
high ;  or  even  one  whose  friendship  we  should  care  to 
keep.  Precisely  so,  if  we  have  not  risen  above  making 
prayer  primarily  a  means  to  gaining  this  or  that  specific 
favor;  we  are  not  on  very  honorable  terms  with  God 
and  his  Good  Will.  God  is  not  mocked :  and  if  we  get 
little  from  such  prayer,  we  get  all  we  deserve.  Prayer 
is  primarily  communion,  fellowship;  mind  with  mind; 
heart  to  heart ;  will  with  will.  Incidentally  it  doubtless 
has  other  effects:  but  its  chief  effect  is  the  filling  the 
mind  and  heart  and  will  of  him  who  prays  so  full  of 
Good  Will,  that  by  his  resulting  action  Good  Will  is 
done,  as  apart  from  the  prayer  it  would  not  be  done. 
Not  my  will  but  Good  Will  is  what  in  true  prayer  we 
most  desire.  It  seeks  the  positive  presence  and  power  of 
Good  Will  in  us,  doing  through  us  and  for  us,  what  we 
alone,  or  trusting  to  chance  influence,  could  not  or  would 
not  do. 

Undertaken  in  pride  of  race,  or  pride  of  opinion,  or 


240  THE   GOSPEL  OF   GOOD   WILL 

pride  of  superior  virtue,  missions  are  an  injury  alike  to 
missionary  and  convert:  but  undertaken  in  the  desire 
to  give  the  best  we  have  in  moral  motive,  in  spiritual 
comfort,  in  medical  skill,  in  industrial  arts,  in  intellectual 
interest  and  power,  missions  are  so  essential  and  con- 
summate an  expression  of  Good  Will,  that  no  preacher 
who  fails  to  preach  them,  and  to  train  his  people  to 
support  them,  appreciates  what  Good  Will  requires  of 
those  who  would  share  in  its  world-wide  application. 
If  that  Will  is  good  for  me,  it  is  good  for  my  neighbor : 
if  it  is  good  for  my  section  of  the  city,  it  is  good  for  every 
section  of  the  city :  if  it  is  good  for  my  old  and  settled 
community,  it  is  good  for  the  frontier  town :  if  it  is  good 
for  my  country  and  my  race,  it  is  good  for  every  country 
under  heaven,  and  for  all  the  races  of  the  earth.  Granted 
that  Good  Will  begins  at  home,  and  is  mainly  expressed 
in  secular  vocations  and  domestic  and  local  services: 
yet  if  my  will  stops  anywhere  short  of  the  ends  of  the 
earth  it  is  not  Good  Will  which  I  am  seeking  and  serving. 
To  carry  Good  Will  where  there  is  most  ill  will,  where 
the  actual  situation  is  most  painful,  is  to  come  closest 
to  it,  to  share  it  most,  and  serve  it  best.  The  Gospel 
of  Good  Will  requires  more  sacrifice  than  the  doctrine 
of  the  eternal  damnation  of  the  heathen  ever  did. 
The  depth  and  extent  of  missionary  contribution  and 


FELLOWSHIP   IN   GOOD   WILL:     THE   CHURCH         241 

devotion,  not  as  a  thing  apart  from  secular  and  home  ser- 
vice or  as  a  substitute  for  it ;  but  as  its  crown  and  con- 
summation, will  ever  be  one  of  the  best  tests  of  Good  Will. 
The  minister  is  no  more  essential  to  Good  Will  than  are 
Church,  Bible,  Sacrament  and  Sabbath.  There  is  no 
miraculously  imparted  grace  of  which  the  priesthood  is 
the  custodian  and  distributer.  The  minister  is  the 
guardian,  exponent  and  teacher  of  that  life  in  and  for 
Good  Will  which  is  common  to  minister  and  layman. 
The  minister  is  related  to  Good  Will  in  precisely  the  same 
way  as  the  butcher  is  related  to  meat,  or  the  carpenter 
to  houses,  or  the  shoemaker  to  shoes.  The  butcher 
eats  meat,  the  carpenter  lives  in  a  house,  the  shoe- 
maker wears  shoes  the  same  as  do  other  men.  But  in 
addition  the  butcher  provides  meat,  the  carpenter 
houses,  the  shoemaker  shoes  for  other  men.  They 
are  simply  the  specialized  agents,  set  apart  to  provide 
these  commodities.  Precisely  so  the  minister  lives  in, 
and  by,  and  for  Good  Will  the  same  as  other  Christian 
men.  But  in  addition  to  doing  that  Will  for  himself, 
he  shows  his  fellows  how  to  see  it,  and  do  it,  and  enjoy 
it.  He  judges  himself  and  all  men  by  the  standard  of 
that  Will:  points  out  its  applications:  exhorts  to  the 
sacrifices  it  requires :  imparts  to  all  who  live  in  it  the 
hope  and  comfort  it  contains. 


242  THE   GOSPEL  OF   GOOD   WILL 

Just  because  the  function  in  which  he  specializes  is 
so  precious  and  vital,  the  insight  requisite  is  so  keen, 
and  the  character  required  to  present  and  represent  it 
worthily  is  so  high,  the  ministry  is  a  highly  honorable 
profession :  but  its  honor  rests  on  no  mysterious  superi- 
ority. It  rests  simply  and  solidly  on  the  worth  to  the 
individual  and  to  society  of  knowing,  loving  and  serving 
Good  Will. 

The  minister  is  simply  the  man  who  is  set  apart  by 
society  to  keep  vivid  the  vision,  and  active  the  service,  by 
others  as  well  as  by  himself,  of  Good  Will.  If  he  does 
that  work  well  he  is  entitled  to  such  salary  as  will  give  him 
the  tools,  the  freedom,  and  the  connections  required  for 
doing  his  best ;  and  to  the  honor  that  is  due  to  an  impor- 
tant social  service  cheerfully  and  effectively  rendered. 

But  he  will  keep  closest  to  his  Master,  and  come  clos- 
est to  men  the  less  he  thinks  of  the  honor,  and  the  pro- 
fessional standing  he  shares  with  the  lawyer  and  the 
physician ;  and  the  more  he  thinks  of  the  social  service 
rendered,  and  the  spirit  of  service  he  shares  with  the 
Christian  butcher,  the  Christian  carpenter  and  the 
Christian  shoemaker.  The  minister  like  his  Master 
should  think  of  himself  chiefly  as  one  who  serves. 

Other  vocations  offer  larger  remuneration,  higher 
honors,  more  conspicuous  careers :  but  none  offers  more 


FELLOWSHIP  IN   GOOD   WILL :    THE   CHURCH         243 

close  companionship  with  God,  or  more  vital  relations 
with  one's  fellow-men ;  none  renders  more  valuable  ser- 
vice for  the  ennobling  of  individuals,  the  upbuilding  of 
institutions,  the  healing  of  the  nations,  and  the  redemp- 
tion of  the  world. 

This  Gospel  of  Good  Will  carries  with  it  momentous 
implications.  If  this  is  true,  many  other  things  supposed 
to  be  true  and  important  are  false  or  trivial.  Good 
Will  is  not  called  upon  to  go  out  of  its  way  to  tear  down 
these  trivial  falsehoods.  It  patiently  waits  to  see  them 
fall  down  as  soon  as  the  sufficiency  of  the  Gospel  of  Good 
Will  is  established.  Is  then  this  Gospel  of  Good  Will 
true  and  sufficient? 

The  tests  are  pragmatic.  Does  it  make  men  Chris- 
tians? Does  it  make  earth  heaven?  These  tests  we 
may  now  apply. 

A  man,  in  response  to  Christ's  expectation,  acquires 
and  maintains  the  habit  of  spending  his  money,  control- 
ling his  appetites  and  passions,  choosing  peace  or  strife, 
and  making  every  other  decision  with  an  eye  single  to 
the  greatest  good  of  all  who  are  affected ;  as  the  Father 
who  loves  all  his  children  will. 

Every  thought  or  deed  or  word  that  falls  below  that 
generous  aim  he  scorns  as  meanness  unworthy  of  him, 
and  repents  as  sin. 


244  THE    GOSPEL   OF  GOOD   WILL 

All  men  who  fall  into  meanness  or  sin,  the  instant  they 
are  ashamed  and  sorry  he  forgives;  and  therein  finds 
assurance  that  God  and  Christian  men  likewise  forgive 
his  own  sins,  and  restore  him  to  their  favor. 

He  chooses  and  fulfils  his  vocation  with  a  justice  and 
generosity  which  make  the  interest  of  client,  customer, 
consumer  as  precious  to  him  as  his  own. 

He  pays  whatever  price  of  sacrifice  such  disinterested 
devotion  to  universal  good  in  a  world  still  largely  evil 
may  require;  accepting  that  cost  as  his  portion  of  the 
cross  of  Christ. 

He  thinks  little  about  his  own  character,  his  own  vir- 
tues, his  own  salvation  even :  but  trusts  the  Good  Will 
he  has  toward  others  to  enlarge  and  enrich  his  soul  into 
the  stature  and  likeness  of  Christ. 

Where  good  and  evil  are  mixed,  with  some  of  each  on 
both  sides  of  disputed  questions,  he  appreciates  the  good 
and  opposes  the  evil  in  both ;  giving  his  influence  to  the 
one  where,  all  things  considered,  he  finds  most  good  and 
least  evil. 

He  joins  and  supports  the  church,  cherishes  its  lit- 
erature, its  sacraments,  its  times  and  seasons,  its  wor- 
ship, its  missions,  its  ministry,  not  slavishly  or  super- 
stitiously,  but  freely  and  gladly  as  the  appointed  agencies 
for  keeping  alive  and  handing  on  the  Gospel  of  Good  Will. 


FELLOWSHIP   IN   GOOD   WILL:     THE   CHURCH         245 

A  man  who  believes  and  lives  this  Gospel,  whatever 
else  he  may  believe  or  not  believe,  do  or  refrain  from 
doing,  is  a  Christian. 

Wherever  and  to  whatever  extent  this  Gospel  is 
preached  and  practised,  no  matter  what  the  racial, 
intellectual,  social,  economic  or  political  status,  there 
and  to  that  extent  earth  becomes  a  household  of  heaven. 

These  fruits  the  Gospel  of  Good  Will,  when  clearly 
preached  and  faithfully  practised,  brings  forth :  and  on 
this  power  to  make  men  Christian,  and  earth  heaven, 
it  rests  its  claim  to  be  the  true  Gospel  of  our  Lord  and 
Savior  Jesus  Christ. 


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The  Five  Great  Philosophies  of  Life 

BY  WILLIAM    DEW.   HYDE 
President  of  Bowdoin  College 

Cloth,  I2tno,  $1.50 

The  five  centuries  from  the  birth  of  Socrates  to  the  death  of  Christ 
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Aristotelian  Sense  of  Proportion  ;  and  the  Christian  Spirit  of  Love. 
The  purpose  of  this  book,  which  is  a  revised  and  considerably  en- 
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these  sane  and  wholesome  principles  of  personality  talk  to  us  in 
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Cloth,  12-mo, 

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spiritual  significance  of  everyday  life.'  "  —  The  Outlook, 

"  Full  of  much  that  is  intellectually  stimulating,  and  full  too,  as  its 
title  signifies  it  was  meant  to  be,  of  much  that  is  practically  helpful." 
—  Church  Union. 

"  Whoever  reads  this  volume  .  .  .  will  concede  readily  that  it 
deserves  the  highest  commendation.  Certainly  we  recall  no  other 
treatise  upon  its  topic  which  we  consider  its  equal.  It  is  exceedingly 
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PART   I.     THEOLOGICAL 

II.     ANTHROPOLOGICAL 
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"  It  contains  something  more  than  commonly  well  worth 
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sible to  separate  God  from  man  or  man  from  God.  They 
are  correlative  terms.'  The  author  plants  himself  firmly  on 
this  social  conception  of  theology,  and  holds  it.  The  book 
is,  all  through,  very  much  out  of  the  ordinary  line.  It  does 
not  fly  in  the  face  of  settled  convictions,  nor  contradict  the 
traditional  creeds.  The  subject  is  set  up  for  discussion  in  a 
different  light  and  in  new  and  delightfully  suggestive  rela- 
tions."—  The  Independent. 

"  A  most  welcome  book.  It  is  something  far  better  and 
more  desirable  than  its  title  would  indicate.  We  think  he 
deserves  credit  for  something  more  thorough  and  lasting 
than  he  is  willing  to  claim.  At  any  rate,  he  traverses  from 
end  to  end  the  whole  region  of  religion,  on  the  side  both 
of  theory  and  of  practice,  and  explores  it  in  the  light  of  the 
science  and  thinking  and  spirit  of  our  day.  The  author's 
gift  of  telling  utterance,  his  fine  feeling,  and  lofty  purpose 
seem  never  to  fail  him.  He  shows  that  he  has  in  rare  de- 
gree the  gifts  of  the  preacher,  and  that  these  chapters  were 
first  spoken  as  sermons.  They  lose  in  print  none  of  their 
reality  and  practical  efficiency.  It  is  a  good  omen  that  this 
first  attempt  at  a  thorough  restatement  of  Christian  doctrine 
should  command  the  service  of  the  art  to  please  and  con- 
vince, and  partake  both  of  the  '  grace  and  truth  which  came 
by  Jesus  Christ.'" —  The  Congregationalist. 


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NEW  BOOKS  ON  RELIGION 

Three  Religious  Leaders  of  Oxford  and  Their 
Movements:  John  Wycliffe,  John  Wesley, 
John  Henry  Newman 

BY  S.   PARKES  CADMAN 

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This  book  deals  with  three  great  Englishmen,  great  Chris- 
tians, great  Churchmen,  and  loyal  sons  of  Oxford,  who,  in 
Dr.  Cadman's  opinion,  are  the  foremost  leaders  in  religious 
life  and  activity  that  university  has  yet  given  to  the  world. 
"  Many  prophets,  priests  and  kings,"  writes  Dr.  Cadman, 
"  have  been  nourished  within  her  borders,  but  none  who  in 
significance  and  contribution  to  the  general  welfare  compare 
with  Wycliffe,  the  real  originator  of  European  Protestantism  ; 
Wesley,  the  Anglican  priest  who  became  the  founder  of 
Methodism  and  one  of  the  makers  of  modern  England  and  of 
English  speaking  nations  ;  Newman,  the  spiritual  genius  of 
his  century,  who  reinterpreted  Catholicism,  both  Anglican  and 
Roman." 

Why  Men  Pray 

BY  CHARLES  LEWIS   SLATTERY 

Rector  of  Grace  Church,  New  York  City 

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Dr.  Slattery  defines  prayer  roughly  as  "  talking  with  the 
unseen."  In  his  book  he  does  not  argue  about  prayer  but 
rather  sets  down  in  as  many  chapters  six  convictions  which 
he  has  concerning  it.  These  convictions  are,  first,  that  all  men 
pray  ;  second,  that  prayer  discovers  God,  that,  in  other  words, 
when  men  become  conscious  of  their  prayer  they  rind  them- 
selves standing  face  to  face  with  one  whom  in  a  flash  they 
recognize  as  God  ;  third,  prayer  unites  men  ;  fourth,  God  de- 
pends on  men's  prayer ;  fifth,  prayer  submits  to  the  best;  and 
sixth,  prayer  receives  God. 


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What  Jesus  Christ  Thought  of  Himself 

BY  ANSON   PHELPS  STOKES 

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The  purpose  of  this  book  is  to  show  in  clear,  compact  form 
and  in  untechnical  language  what  any  intelligent  student  of 
the  New  Testament  may  find  out  for  himself  as  to  Jesus'  view 
of  his  own  person.  A  secondary  purpose  has  been  to  interpret 
this  self-revealed  personality.  The  author  divides  his  discus- 
sion into  two  main  parts :  The  Human  Side  of  Jesus  Christ  and 
The  Divine  Side  of  Jesus  Christ.  Under  the  former  he  takes 
up  Christ's  consciousness  of  his  limitations,  his  consciousness 
that  he  was  representing  another  and  his  consciousness  of  his 
subordination  in  prayer.  Under  the  latter  he  considers  Christ 
as  Master  of  the  Past,  Master  of  the  Present,  and  Master  of 
the  Future.  The  book  concludes  with  a  chapter  on  the  rec- 
onciliation of  the  human  and  the  divine  elements. 

The    Centennial    History    of    the    American 
Bible  Society 

BY  HENRY  OTIS  D WIGHT,  LL.D. 

Recording  Secretary  of  the  Society 

In  two  volumes.     Cloth,  8vo 

The  American  Bible  Society  was  organized  in  May,  1816. 
Its  work  has  been  so  interwoven  with  the  development  of  the 
American  republic  that  there  will  be  felt  a  very  general  in- 
terest in  this  account  of  its  one  hundred  years  of  existence. 
This  has  been  prepared  by  the  Recording  Secretary,  who,  for 
many  months,  has  been  engaged  in  gathering  the  necessary 
data  and  in  writing  the  narrative.  The  volume  will  be  found 
full  of  information  not  only  as  to  the  history  of  the  society 
but  also  as  to  the  results  achieved  in  its  distribution  of  the 
Scriptures  throughout  this  country  and  in  the  far  ends  of  the 
earth. 

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